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Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. The population of Ternopil was estimated at 225,004 (2022 estimate).
Founded as a border fortress of the Kingdom of Poland, the city remained property of several noble families and became an important centre of trade, but suffered from numerous attacks by Turks, Tatars and Zaporozhian Cossacks. After a period of decline, it saw a new period of development in the 19th century thanks to its role as a transit location between the Austrian monarchy and Russian Empire. During the early 20th century Ternopil was the only city in Galicia where Ukrainians were more numerous than Poles. During and immediately after World War I the city experienced periods of Russian, Ukrainian and Soviet rule, before being incorporated by Interwar Poland. During the Second World War Ternopil was occupied by Soviet and German troops and suffered severe damage. In the aftermath of the war, it was incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, a member republic of the USSR. Since 1991 Ternopil has been part of independent Ukraine.
The city is the administrative center of Ternopil Oblast (region), as well as of surrounding Ternopil Raion (district) within the oblast. It hosts the administration of Ternopil urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.
The city was founded in 1540 by Polish commander and Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski. Its Polish name, Tarnopol, means 'Tarnowski's city' and stems from a combination of the founder's family name and the Greek term polis. The city served as a military stronghold and castle protecting the eastern borders of Polish Kingdom from Tatar raids. On 15 April 1540, the King of Poland, Sigismund I the Old, in Kraków gave Tarnowski permission to establish Tarnopol, near Sopilcze (Sopilche). In 1570, the city passed to the Ostrogski family, and in 1623 to the Zamoyski family. During the Khmelnytsky Uprising, many residents of the city joined the ranks of the Cossack forces. During the 1672–1676 Polish–Ottoman War, Tarnopol was almost completely destroyed by Turkish forces of Ibrahim Shishman Pasha in 1675, then rebuilt by Aleksander Koniecpolski.
A period of decline followed, during which the city suffered from the rebellion of Bar Confederation, and in 1770 its population was significantly reduced by a cholera epidemic. In 1772, after the First Partition of Poland, the city came under Austrian rule. In 1809, after the War of the Fifth Coalition, the city came under Russian rule, incorporated into the newly created Ternopol krai, but in 1815 returned to Austrian rule in accordance with the Congress of Vienna. In 1870 Tarnopol was connected by railway with Lemberg and Pidvolochysk. During the late 19th and early 20th century it was the only urban locality in Galicia, where ethnic Ukrainians formed a majority compared to Poles. In 1898 a Ukrainian language gymnasium was opened in the city. Among notable representatives of the Ukrainian national movement active in Ternopil during that period were Oleksander Barvinsky and Volodymyr Luchakivskyi.
During World War I, the city passed from German and Austro-Hungarian forces to Russia several times. In 1916 a Ukrainian theatre and a number of schools teaching in the Ukrainian language were opened. In 1917 the city and its castle were burned down by fleeing Russian forces. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ternopil was proclaimed part of the West Ukrainian People's Republic on 11 November 1918. After Polish forces captured Lwów during the Polish-Ukrainian War, Tarnopol became the country's temporary capital. After the Act of Union between the West Ukrainian Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic, Ternopil formally became part of the UPR. On 15 July 1919, the city was captured by Polish forces. In July and August 1920, the Red Army captured Ternopil in the course of the Polish-Soviet War, and the city served as the capital of the short-lived Galician Soviet Socialist Republic. Under the terms of the Riga treaty, the area remained under Polish control.
During the Interwar period the city served as the capital of Tarnopol Voivodeship, but its economic importance declined due to the closure of the nearby eastern border. In 1930 the local Ukrainian gymnasium was closed as part of government-promoted campaigns of Polonization and Pacification. Despite this, Ternopil continued to serve as a centre of Ukrainian culture, education, religion and sports.
Following the start of World War II, on 17 September 1939 Red Army troops entered Ternopil, followed by NKVD troops one day later. Some local Poles, including gendarmerie servicemen, resisted against the invading forces, throwing grenades and shooting at them from house windows. As a consequence of the Soviet invasion of Poland, Ternopil was incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic as part of Ternopol Oblast.
On 2 July 1941, the city was occupied by the Nazis following mass executions of imprisoned locals by Soviet authorities. Between then and July 1943, 10,000 Jews were killed by Nazi Germans with the help of Ukrainian militia, and another 6,000 were rounded up and sent to Belzec extermination camp. A few hundred others went to labor camps. During most of this time Jews lived in the Tarnopol Ghetto. Many Ukrainians were sent as forced labour to Germany. Following the act of restoration of the Ukrainian state, proclaimed by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in Lviv on 30 June 1941, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was active in the Ternopil region and battled for the independence of Ukraine, opposing the Polish underground Armia Krajowa and People's Army of Poland as well as the Nazis and the Soviets. In 1942 the Germans operated the Stalag 323 prisoner-of-war camp for French POWs in the city. During the Soviet offensive in March and April 1944, the city was almost completely destroyed by Soviet artillery, losing over half of its buildings. It was occupied by the Red Army on 15 April 1944. After the second Soviet occupation, 85% of the city's living quarters were destroyed.
Following the Potsdam Conference in 1945, Poland's borders were redrawn and Ternopil was incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. The ethnic Polish population of the area was forcibly deported to postwar Poland. In 1953 a plan of the city's reconstruction was approved, and in the following decades Ternopil was rebuilt in a typical Soviet style, with only a few pre-war buildings being restored. Under the Soviet rule Ternopil became an important industrial centre specializing in food production, as well as light industry, manufacturing of construction materials, electronics, machine-building etc.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Ternopil became part of independent Ukraine, as a city of regional significance. On 31 December 2013, the 11th Artillery Brigade, the descendant of artillery units that had been based in the city since 1949, was disbanded. In 2020, as part of the administrative reform in Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Ternopil Oblast to three, the city was merged into Ternopil Raion.
During the Russo-Ukrainian War, Ternopil was struck by Russian missiles on 13 May 2023, minutes before Ternopil natives Tvorchi performed at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. On 19 November 2025 another Russian strike hit a residential area, killing at least 34 people, including 3 children, and injuring 66.
Ternopil has a moderate continental climate with cold winters and warm summers.
According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, Ternopil city and Ternopil Oblast are homogeneously populated by ethnic Ukrainians. Both Ternopil city and Ternopil Oblast are also homogeneously Ukrainian-speaking.
Starting from the city's foundation and until the 20th century its demographics were dominated by Ukrainians, Poles and Jews. In 1900 44,3% of Ternopil's population belonged to Jewish religion, with most of the rest being Ukrainians and Poles. By 1939 the Jewish population had declined to 39,3%, the number of Poles had risen to 39,7% and Ukrainians comprised 19,2% of the population.
The city's population underwent a radical change following the establishment of the Soviet regime, and by 1959 78% of its inhabitants were Ukrainians, 15% - Russians, meanwhile the share of Poles had declined to 5%.
National breakdown of Ternopil Oblast (total population 1,138,500):
Native languages in Ternopil:
According to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in 2023, 98% of the city's population spoke Ukrainian at home and 1% spoke Russian.
Ternopil is a centre for the light industry, food industry, radio-electronic and construction industries. In the Soviet and early post-Soviet period, a harvester plant and a porcelain factory operated in the city.
Ternopil is an important railway hub with connections to most major railway stations of Ukraine. The city lies on the M12 international highway connecting western and central regions of Ukraine. Trolleybus lines and a bus station are active in the city. Water transport operates on Ternopil artificial lake mostly for tourist purposes. An airport was opened for civilian traffic in 1985, but ceased commercial operations in 2010.
Universities include:
Text from the Wikipedia article “Ternopil”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.