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Founding
Founding of Kremenchuk
city in Ukraine
- 1571
- Europe
Founding
city in Ukraine
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Kremenchuk is an city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within Poltava Oblast. Its population is approximately 215,271 (2022 estimate), making it the second-largest city in Poltava Oblast and the 31st largest city in Ukraine. In 2001, the Ukrainian government included the city in the list of historical settlements.
Kremenchuk is believed to have been founded in 1571, when a fortress was nominally established in the city after the signing of the Union of Lublin. Despite this, the area remained depopulated for decades afterward until 1635, when French engineer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan actually built a small fortress for Kremenchuk, which was the year the city was granted Magdeburg law rights. The city was then seized by the Cossack Hetmanate in the Khmelnytsky Uprising, before finally being burned down in a siege as part of the Polish–Russian War (1654–1667) in 1663. Kremenchuk was then revived by the Russian Empire following the Treaty of Andrusovo under the name of Kremenchug, when it became the capital of the Novorossiya Governorate for a short time, before being demoted again. During this time, the fortress fell into decay, and the city shifted towards being of industrial importance on the Dnieper. After the Russian Civil War, the city was claimed by the Ukrainian SSR in 1919, and in 1922 the city was annexed into the Soviet Union, initially as the capital of the short-lived Kremenchuk Governorate. The city was then affected by World War II, which saw the massacre of its sizable Jewish population - 22% before the war - as part of the Holocaust and the killing of tens of thousands in prisoner of war camps before being liberated during the Battle of the Dnieper. After it recovered, the city became an industrial powerhouse due to the opening of KrAZ and the Kremenchuk Oil Refinery. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the city became part of a newly independent Ukraine.
Kremenchuk remains heavily industrialised, with some of its largest enterprises being KrAZ, Kryukiv Railway Car Building Works, and the Kremenchuk Oil Refinery, although the latter was destroyed in 2022. Cultural landmarks include Peace Park and the Stone Tower, which was built in the late 1700s. The city has multiple museums, including the Kremenchuk Museum of Local Lore, the All-Ukrainian Museum of the History of Uniforms, and the Museum of the History of Aviation, among others. The city is home to the association football team FC Kremin Kremenchuk, which play their home games at Kremin-Arena, and the ice hockey club HC Kremenchuk, which plays at Aisberg Arena. The city is also home to multiple institutions of higher education, most notably Kremenchuk National University.
There have been numerous theories about the etymology of the word Kremenchuk as there is no clear consensus. The most widespread theory is that the first part of the name "kremen" is derived from the Turkish language word of kermençik or kermen, which means "small fortress" or "fortification". The "-chuk" in the name was simply added on as a diminutive suffix that is Slavic. This theory is believed to be supported by the naming of the Scythian Neapolis in Crimea, which is also popularly called "Kermenchik", with the ke meaning elevation and the chik meaning small. Vyrsky also says that toponyms similar to Kremenchuk are not unique, and can be found elsewhere in the Ukrainian steppe, which suggests the name is not locally tied and gives weight to the fortification theories. This version is also supported by P. I. Keppen, who said that Kermenchik was Ukrainised into a form like Kremenchuk. However, other theories exist, such as another popular one that derives kremenchuk from the word kremin', meaning flint, because of the chert in the city. This version is present in legends in the city, such as that the founder of the city was a fisherman known as Kremin'. Another legend about where the name comes from is that the founder of the city was known as "Kremen-Chuh", who was described in legend as the son of a man named Chuh, with the father Chuh being the person the city of Chuhuiv is named after, although again this does not have any scholarly basis.
Human settlement around the area of present-day Kremenchuk began during the Mesolithic era as part of the Kukrets culture. Over successive centuries, the area would then be occupied by numerous different cultures, from the Dnieper–Donets culture to the Chernyakhov culture. A notable settlement during this time was Rakivka/Rakivske, which was founded during the Neolithic era in what is today's Kriukivskyi District, and would be successively inhabited for multiple eras. However, the area slowly became depopulated over time following the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus', especially during the era of Meñli I Giray, whose forces extensively raided the area. Even after this depopulation, a fortified point under various names for Kremenchuk was noted by both the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Grand Principality of Moscow in writing, and the area is also sometimes believed to have been used as a seasonal fishing/hunting spot. However, most scholars agree the city's founding date is 1571, which is when, after the signing of the Union of Lublin, Hryhoriy Svyrhovsky nominally established a fortress in the city for the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. Despite Svyrhovsky formally establishing it, though, the site of the fortress would remain depopulated for decades afterwards, and no significant progress was ever actually made on building the fortress after its founding in 1571, despite attempts. The city and fortress would actually be finally developed in 1635 as Krzemienczuk, when French engineer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan built a small, older fortress for the city, which was also the year the city was granted Magdeburg law rights.
Shortly thereafter, during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, Kremenchuk was seized by the Cossack Hetmanate, and incorporated as a sotnia of the Chyhyryn Regiment. After a few years, it was even elevated to having its own regiment, known as the Kremenchuk Regiment, from 1661 to 1663, before being de-elevated back down into the Myrhorod Regiment. During the fighting over Ukraine and the Hetmanate as part of the wider Polish–Russian War (1654–1667), the city changed hands multiple times between pro-Polish and pro-Muscovite Cossacks, before finally being decisively burned during a siege by the Muscovites in 1663.
After becoming part of the Tsardom of Russia finally during the Treaty of Andrusovo in 1667, the ruined city would remain minor for decades, until it was slowly revived throughout the 1700s under Russian rule under the Russian name of Kremenchug. The revived city reached a peak shortly thereafter, after becoming the capital of the Novorossiya Governorate for a short time, but it was demoted back down. The city then lost its administrative importance in favour of Poltava with the establishment of the Poltava Governorate after a severe plague and flood hit the city in the 1780s. After recovering, the city then shifted away from being of military importance due to its fortress, which would slowly be neglected, to becoming a trade centre of the Dnieper with the establishment of the Kriukiv Railway Car Building Works in the neighbouring town of Kriukiv, which would later be incorporated into Kremenchug. This was also the time that its Jewish population rapidly grew due to being within the Pale of Settlement. During the brief 1905 Russian Revolution, the city saw major strikes, but these were suppressed by city authorities.
After the outbreak of the Ukrainian War of Independence as part of the wider Russian Civil War, the city of Krermenchug would change hands repeatedly. It was briefly under Bolshevik rule following the October Revolution, although by November 1917 the Ukrainian People's Republic took over. The Bolsheviks briefly recaptured the city in January 1918. However, they were pushed back when the Imperial German Army arrived in support of the UPR, with the Germans then occupying the city for some months as part of the 1918 Central Powers occupation of Ukraine. However, it was still nominally part of the UPR, especially because, unlike other cities, the Germans did not attempt to exert much control over the city and gave more powers to the Ukrainians. It was briefly taken by the Ukrainian State after a coup, before again becoming part of the UPR until the Germans withdrew after their defeat during World War I, which led the Bolsheviks to retake the city. However, insurgent forces as part of the Hryhoriv Uprising then briefly took the city from the Bolsheviks after turning on them, although the Bolsheviks managed to quickly regain it after the forces of Hryhoriv started a pogrom on the Jewish population of the city, killing 140 in Kremenchug proper and 10 in Kriukiv. After some time of Bolshevik-consolidated rule again, the White movement took the city, during which time they started a pogrom also, in addition to killing six girls they associated with the Komsomol, which turned the citizens away from them. The Bolsheviks then retook the city for a final time in December 1919, and in 1922 the city was annexed into the Soviet Union.
Due to instability in the region following the war, the city then briefly served as the capital of the very short-lived Kremenchuk Governorate, before it was again demoted back down. During the interwar period, the city saw some industrialisation and a brief, visible revival of Jewish life, although Jewish organisations were quickly shut down not long after and a policy of Ukrainisation and Russification began under Joseph Stalin. The city was also devastated by a giant flood in 1931 combined with the Great Purge and the Holodomor, although in the case of the latter the city actually saw a population surge due to starving peasants moving to the city.
After the start of Operation Barbarossa as part of World War II, the city was captured by Nazi German forces in September 1941. Under the Germans, the Jewish population, which had decreased to 22% prior to the war, was systematically massacred as part of the Holocaust. In addition, the city was also the site of multiple prisoner of war camps, with tens of thousands of prisoners dying under German rule. The city was eventually liberated in September 1943 by Soviet forces during the initial stages of the Battle of the Dnieper, which is now celebrated as City Day, although in the aftermath the city was left devestated, with the majority of its prewar buildings being destroyed.
After the war, the reconstructed city became the site of massive industrial growth thanks to the opening of KrAZ and the Kremenchuk Oil Refinery. During the Cold War, Kremenchuk also became the headquarters for the 43rd Rocket Division of the 43rd Army of the Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces. In 1975 the city of Kriukiv, which had long been separate on the other bank of the Dnieper, was merged with Kremenchuk, while Kremenchuk was divided in two raions in city.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the city became a part of an independent Ukraine in 1991. Shortly thereafter, many of the city's industries were privatised, although the oil refinery went through a brief period of instability before gaining more independence post-2012, when it became the last remaining oil refinery in the country after the closure of the Lysychansk Oil Refinery. During Euromaidan, the city saw massive protests in favour of pro-European forces, which culminated in February 2014 with the destruction of two monuments to Vladimir Lenin during the wider demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine. However, the city would gain wider traction in the following months with the assassination of mayor Oleh Babaiev for inconclusive reasons, although preliminary theories during investigations theorised it was on the orders of the "Vizit" company. After the revolution, the city then had a wave of decommunisation, while KrAZ became central to the wider rearmament effort during the War in the Donbas due to its construction of heavy armoured vehicles.
Until 18 July 2020, Kremenchuk was designated as a city of oblast significance and did not belong to Kremenchuk Raion even though it was the center of the raion. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Poltava Oblast to four, the city was merged into Kremenchuk Raion. After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the city saw a massive influx of internally displaced people from the frontlines, which, as of 2026, number 31,000 in the city alone. The city has also seen repeated Russian strikes against the city's infrastructure, leading to frequent power cuts and the destruction of the city's oil refinery. The city's deadliest attack came in June 2022 when Russian forces, using cruise missiles, struck the Amstor shopping mall in the city, which killed 22 people and left 59 injured. The attack was widely condemned by world leaders as a war crime.
Kremenchuk is located on the Dnieper Lowland on the boundary between the Ukrainian Shield and the Dnieper-Donets Rift. The right and left bank parts of Kremenchuk are separated by the Dnieper River, which runs through the city, with the left bank of the city sitting low with depressions, and the right-bank being slightly more elevated. The city is host to three different rivers: Sukhyi Omelnyk, which flows into the Psel from the right bank and crosses through the northernmost part of the city, Sukhyi Kahamlyk, which flows into the Kryva Ruda from the right bank through the heavily urbanised parts of the city north to south, and Kryva Ruda itself, which is a left-bank tributary of the Dnieper and crosses through the city from the northwest to southeast. Kremenchuk is also situated at the very left portion of the Kamianske Reservoir, where the port of the city is.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Kremenchuk”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.