Oleshky

Oleshky [Олешки; Oleshky], re-named Tsiurupynsk [Цюрупинськ; Cjurupyns'k] in 1928, restored to historic Oleshky in 2016. See Google Map. A city (2022 pop 24,124) and port on the Konka River (a left bank distributary of the Dnipro River), 8 km ESE of Kherson city center and served as a raion center (1923–62, 1965–2020) in Kherson oblast. The Oleshky urban territorial community (est 2020) expanded the city’s jurisdiction to include 5 nearby village councils comprising 11 villages and 2 non-farming settlements.

History. In the 10th to 13th centuries, Kyiv principality’s trade and defense outpost of Oleshia was likely located on or near the site of present-day Olehsky. Recent archeological studies suggest it may have stood on a delta island of the Dnipro River 14 km SW of today’s Oleshky. In the 14th century a Genoese trading colony was located in this general area. After the destruction of Oleshia by the Mongols, from the 15th to 18th centuries the territory was under the control of the Crimean Khanate.

After the Russian army, on orders of Tsar Peter I, destroyed (14 May 1708) the Chortomlyk Sich of the Zaporozhian Cossacks for siding with Hetman Ivan Mazepa in his struggle against Muscovy and then forced them out of their re-located (80 km downstream) Kamianka Sich (1709–11), the Crimean khan permitted some of them, led by otaman Ya. Bohush, to establish their refuge—the Oleshky Sich (1711–28)—on Crimean Khanate territory, 180 km downstream on the left bank of the Konka River. The settlement had a gate on its N side, formed a square (2 ha), enclosed by a trench and earthen wall with a stockade (1.5 m high, 1 km perimeter); inside were 38 barracks (kurins) that housed about 1,500 Cossacks, the Holy Protectress Mother of God Church made of reeds, a well and a cemetery. The Cossack kish otamans Kost Hordiienko and Ivan Malashevych and Mazepa’s successor, hetman Pylyp Orlyk, maintained diplomacy with the Crimea, Istanbul, Sweden and Prussia. The Crimean khan, however, imposed not only limitations (no formidable defense walls or cannons) but also unwelcome obligations that gave rise to a pro-Muscovite Cossack faction. In 1728 some Cossacks rebelled; when the Oleshky Sich Cossacks were away, the Samara Sich Cossacks (of the pro-Muscovite faction) destroyed Oleshky Sich; the Oleshky Cossacks retaliated, but rather than rebuild, moved upstream 76 km to re-establish Kamianka Sich (1730–34). In 1734 Empress Anna Ivanovna allowed them to return to the Zaporizhia and establish the New Sich there, to be destroyed by Russian forces in 1775.

After the Russian Empire annexed the Crimean Khanate (8 April 1783), colonization of this area began. In 1784 the site just west of Oleshky Sich was settled by 50 families of state peasants (former Cossacks), who called their village Oleshky. In 1790–92 the Black Sea Cossacks also settled in Oleshky and established other settlements in the Oleshky Sands as part of their Kinburn Palanka: Pidstepne and Laheri to the ENE, Kostohryzivka and Radeny to the SE, and Zburyivka and Zabaryna at the mouth of the Dnipro River to the SW. In 1793–94 the Black Sea Cossacks were re-located to the Kuban front, and their lands were granted to gentry who brought their peasants or accepted others.

When Tavriia gubernia was set up, Oleshky gained the status of a town and temporarily called Dniprovsk in 1802 when it became the center of Dniprovsk county. This status spurred its growth (in thousands), from (2.9) in 1832–33 to (6.5) in 1854; it became a city when it served as a supply point for the Russian forces during the Crimean War (1854–56); by 1897 it reached 8,999, who (in percent) spoke Russian (69.5), Ukrainian (21.7), and Yiddish (8.2). At the beginning of the 20th century, it had only one building made of stone, the rest of wood or rushes, coated with clay. Oleshky had a county school (since 1812), a city school with a trade’s class for sailors (since 1874), a zemstvo school and a parish school and a private school for girls, a nunnery, a library, a print shop, handicraft shops, an oil mill, a steam grain mill and 13 wind grain mills. Residents worked in farming, fishing, ferrying, trades, and services. Administratively, the settlement changed from being part of Tavriia oblast (1784–96) to New Russia gubernia (1796–1802) and Tavriia gubernia (1802–1918).

During Ukraine’s struggle for independence (1917–20) Oleshky was part of the declared Ukrainian National Republic (November 1917) and part of the Ukrainian State after invasion by the Central Powers (March to December 1918). Its local governance (executive council of worker, peasant and soldier deputies) was headed by Mykola Kulish (1918), who also established a county branch of the Prosvita and then organized the Dnipro Regiment to resist Gen Anton Denikin’s forces. During the Ukrainian-Soviet War, 1917–21, and Russia’s Civil War, Oleshky was taken by the Denikin-led ‘White’ forces, supported by the Anglo-French allies (January–March 1919), the Red Army (21 March 1919), the ‘White’ forces (28 July 1919), the Red Army (January 1920), and the Petr Wrangel-led ‘White’ forces (June 1920), changing hands between them several times in autumn 1920.

Largely destroyed by the war, the city was taken by the Red Army (17 October 1920) to become part of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, re-named the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (December 1922). The settlement was re-named Tsiurupynsk in 1928 after its native Bolshevik activist, Soviet trade minister and chief of the State Planning Committee of the USSR (1923–25), Oleksander Tsiurupa. Having lost population from war devastation and severe requisitions (of which O. Tsiurupa was in charge) and the resultant famine of 1921–3 (which was described by Mykola Kulish), the settlement had only 5,165 residents in 1923 and 4,952 in 1926. It re-gained town status in 1938 (11,369 in 1939) and city in 1956 (11,689 in 1959). Administratively, as the provinces were restructured, it changed from being part of Kherson gubernia (1918–20) to Mykolaiv gubernia (1921–22), and Odesa gubernia (1922–25); then with re-structuring into the smaller okruhas, to the Kherson okruha (1923–30); and with re-structuring into larger oblasts, to Odesa oblast (1932–37), Mykolaiv oblast (1937–44), and Kherson oblast (since 1944). It served as a raion center (1923–62 and 1965–2020); in 2020 the area of Oleshky raion was merged into Kherson raion.

With Soviet nationalization, the nunnery was closed and converted into an orphanage. Churches were closed and re-purposed. After 1928 farms were collectivized. Sandy soils, unsuitable for grain production, were used for pastures, orchards, vineyards or forests. Food processing, sewing and furniture-making were industrialized.

During the Second World War Tsiurupynsk was occupied by German troops on 10 September 1941 and re-named Oleshky (in German, Aleschki). By September 1942 it served as the center for Oleshky war zone (in German, Aleschki Kreisgebiete) in the Crimea-Tavriia general district (Krym–Taurien Generalbezirk) of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. In late September or early October 1941, some 800 Jews from Oleshky and its vicinity were murdered at a site east of the town. Altogether, some 2,160 civilians in Oleshky and neighboring localities lost their lives as a result of the Nazi war crimes in Ukraine, and 356 were taken as Ostarbeiter to forced labor in Germany. The town was taken by the Red Army on 4 November 1943, but German troops held onto the railway bridgehead 9 km E of the city until 20 December 1943. The town’s name went back to Tsiurupynsk.

Following post-war recovery agricultural production at Tsiurupynsk was consolidated into one large collective farm (1950) specializing in the production of vegetables, and a state farm (1959) with orchards, vineyards, and the raising of sheep. Industrialization included metal fabrication, cannery, and the construction of the Kherson cellulose-paper combine (1958–62). Housing infrastructure, education, medical service and a health resort were developed. Its population increased from 16,114 in 1970 to 20,239 in 1979 and 24,760 in 1989.

Following the 1991 Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence private services sprouted in the city, some industries declined, while others were privatized and new ones were established. The 2001 population census registered a slight decline from 1989 to 24,123 residents; they were (in percent) by ethnicity Ukrainians (78.4), Russians (18.4) and others (3.2); by mother tongue, showing legacy of Russification, Ukrainian (68.0), Russian (31.0) and other (1.0). A slight increase in population occurred by 2011 to 25,217, but then with ageing population declined by 1 January 2021 to 24,383. With the resumption of public worship, churches were re-opened and new houses of worship built. The city council resolved (21 November 2007) to restore its historic name of Oleshky and appealed to President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko for the change, but this did not happen until Ukraine’s policy of de-Communization of place-names was implemented in 2016.

Full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine resulted in the occupation of Oleshky on 24 February 2022. Residents of the town protested (a massive demonstration 8 March 2022 demanding Russian forces leave the city) and kept the flag of Ukraine at town hall flying until 14 April 2022, when Russian forces removed it and put up a Russian flag. Russian authorities and their collaborators detained and tortured at least 90 Ukrainians from Oleshky at a detention center in nearby Kherson. Then they held a sham referendum (23–27 September 2022) for Kherson oblast to exit Ukraine and form a self-governing state incorporated into the Russian Federation. After Ukrainian counter-offensive liberated Kherson and the right bank portion of Kherson oblast (12 November 2022), Oleshky was cut off from Kherson by the front, remaining under Russian occupation. By December, Russian collaborators left Oleshky to safer Henichesk. On 20 March 2023, Russia reinstated the name Tsiurupynsk for the town. On 6 June 2023, as a result of the destruction of Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station, 90 percent of the city’s area was flooded, causing untold casualties and unrepairable damage.

Economy. The city was an agriculturally-based food processing center and, since the Second World War, as part of the Kherson conurbation, an industrial center with a health resort for outdoor recreation. Its industries included the Kherson cellulose-paper combine (built 1958–62, now mostly in ruins), the Tsiurupynsk paper combine (the only place in Ukraine making paper for auto oil filters), the corrugated carton plant, the Amethyst machine-building plant (plastic automotive and electric machine parts), the new OSV Technology (urethane plastic products), and the ZAT Electro (electric infrastructure); of building materials, a crushed stone operation for cement-making and the German Khenkel Bautekhnik (construction mixes using Oleshia Sands high quartzite sands); of food processing, the Kherson fish-processing complex, a fruit and vegetable cannery, the Oleshky dairy, a margarine plant, a juice factory, a water bottling plant, the Vyna Oleshshia winery, the city bakery and a grain trading company (LLC Dunapack Tavria); in light industry, the Yunist' sewing company.

Services in administration, education, health and tourism employed many in both city and raion government offices; a professional lyceum, 4 schools, 3 boarding schools, 5 kindergartens, a music school for children, a center for child creativity, a center for young technologists, a sports school for youth, and 5 libraries; medical facilities included the Central Regional Hospital, the Regional Tuberculosis Hospital for Children and 2 clinics; 5 hotels and roadside motels; 7 parks and a number of cabins and outdoor attractions beyond the city. The city also housed the Lower Dnipro River Scientific Research Station for Sands Afforestation and Viticulture (est 1927 as the Oleshky Sand Melioration Research Station, re named in 2008 the Steppe Branch of the Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute of Forestry and Agroforest Melioration, which promoted afforestation and the selection of grape vines and fruit tree varieties to thrive on the Oleshky Sands.

Until Russian invasion and occupation (2022), the city had bus service, river ferry and train connections.

Culture. During the Soviet period the press, museums, memorials and cultural activities were ideologically directed. The Oleshky newspaper Visnyk Oleshshia (first published in February 1918 [in Russian] as Izvestiia Soveta rabochikh, soldatskikh i krest'ianskikh deputatov Dneprovskogo uezda’, re-started in December 1920 as Dneprovskaia kommuna, edited by Mykola Kulish, then re-named Pakhar', then re-named and switched to Ukrainian as Sotsialistychnyi nastup (1928), then Promin’ sotsializmu 1931–34), Lenins'ke slovo, and until March 1992 Shliakhom Lenina. Also established were the Museum of the Revolution (May 1921) and the 1st of May Communist Club (May 2021), an art-historical museum (1924), and the Tsiurupa House Memorial Museum (est 1962, becoming a branch of the Kherson Regional Studies Museum in 1970). Indeed, Tsiurupa became a must see for visitors to Tsiurupynsk: after disembarking from a river taxi from Kherson, visitors would see a grand monument of O. Tsiurupa (unveiled in 1960, sculptor I. Shapko) on the dockside square and S of it, in a small park, a monument of F. Pirotsky (inventor, who in 1880 built and tested the first streetcar in Russia), as they made their way to visit the memorial museum in the house where O. Tsiurupa was born and lived, then see the graves at the city cemetery of his two brothers and of F. Pirotsky. Local media with sociopolitical messaging included 2 indoor and 2 outdoor movie theaters, newspapers and a radio station. The palace of culture was (and continued to be, after renovations, in the post-Soviet period) an important socio-cultural venue, where amateur groups from various establishments and schools in the city would perform songs and dramas. Similarly, sports were and continued to be important at schools; the Stadium Start was built in 1987, and not renovated until after Ukraine’s independence in 2017 to the Football Federation of Ukraine standards, to become a short-lived enhanced sport venue.

City monuments after 1991 became more diverse. In the city’s Victory Park still stand monuments 1) to the Red Army soldiers, 2) to the soldiers from the city who fought and died in the Second World War with its eternal flame, 3) to the citizen victims shot by Nazi occupiers (1941–43), and 4) to the soldiers who served in the Soviet Army during the war in Afghanistan. New monuments reflecting Ukrainian national pride were subsequently added: 1) the wooden archway with a bell at the site of Oleshky Sich (1991, by the sculptor, N. Hepard), 2) the Bard of Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko, 3) the bust of playwright Mykola Kulish who attended gymnasium in Oleshky (1994, sculptor Ivan Shapko). Political critique of the Soviet regime was noted with a monument to the Victims of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster and a memorial at the outskirts of the city to all who fought for the freedom of Ukraine. The unique Tomato Plant (2011, funded by local agricultural businesses) reflected pride in local specialty.

With de-Communization in 2016, a large Trident (the national coat of arms of Ukraine) replaced the Vladimir Lenin monument in the central square; a monument celebrating 900 years of Oleshky (as a successor of Oleshia) replaced the Tsiurupa monument at the docking square.

In independent Ukraine old religious institutions revived and new ones were organized. By 2020 there were in Oleshky 5 Orthodox parishes, the Saint Anthony Roman Catholic parish, 6 Protestant, 1 Jewish and 1 Muslim houses of worship; there was also a Jehovahs’ Witness Hall. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate had 3 churches: 1) the historic Saint Nina Church (a masonry cathedral being rebuilt at the former Oleshky nunnery [western part of the city, established at a khutir in 1862 with 3 nuns; by 1896 it grew to 100, with a school, library, clinic, workshops, with Sister Nina as Mother-Superior; the nunnery was re-named Dormition Monastery its Dormition cathedral built; in the Soviet period the cathedral was destroyed, the nunnery converted into an orphanage and other buildings re-purposed); 2) the Holy Entry Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (with small dome and bell tower near the city core); and 3) Saint George Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (a large new church). The Orthodox Church of Ukraine had 2: 1) the Protectress Orthodox Church of Ukraine (formerly the Archangel Michael Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church (in a park setting, with a raised double dome); and 2) the Birth of Saint John the Baptist Church (a small church in the NW corner of the Old Park). Other Christian churches are: the Saint Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church (built 2009–10); Christ the Savior Evangelical Christian Baptist Church; and the Seventh Day Adventists Church Cultural Center.

The Tsiurupa House Memorial Museum, re-named (2002) The Tsiurupynsk (since 2016, Oleshky) Regional Studies Museum, expanded its holdings and displays to include other prominent people of the region and former forbidden topics, such as the Famine-Genocide of 1932–3.

Historical buildings include 1) the regional studies museum, 2) the Saint Nina Orthodox Church, 3) the City Prosecutor’s office, and 4) the house memorial museum of the artist Polina Raiko, whose spectacular murals on the walls were destroyed by the floodwaters (2023).

City plan. Oleshky occupies an irregular almond-shaped area of about 8 sq km. Its northern convex base (about 8 km E-W) rests on the flood plain of the Dnipro River where it follows the left (south) banks of the Konka River (eastern half) and Chaika River (western half). Its southern limit abuts 2 former lakes (now drained) in the SW and SE and an E-W section of Highway P52 in the S. Distances through its center are: N-S 4 km and E-W 8 km. A large share of the area (estimates in percent) is built up (70), comprising individual homes with small gardens (50), with few multi-story apartments (4) some commercial-institutional (6) and industrial (10) uses; green space (30) includes the Tsiurupynsk Pine Forest Preserve (6), farmland (5), wetlands (10), open areas for recreation (5) and city parks (4).

The streets of Oleshky were laid out in uneven grid patterns: its E-W streets were generally aligned with the Konka River or Chaika River; the N-S streets lead away from the river, some radiating from the dock on the Chaika River where it connects with the Konka River, others curved to avoid bogs or around the forest preserve. The railway (Kherson–Crimea line, completed in 1954) 8 km E of the city with a station (1944) for passengers and then a spur to the Tsiurupynsk paper combine (1958) in the eastern part of Oleshky drew new roads there. In 1985, the Antonivsky Bridge over the Dnipro River (1,366 m long, 25 m wide) connected Oleshky with Kherson and beyond; from the bridge, Highway E97/M14 curved E of the city center, passed through the NE industrial perimeter of Oleshky, with a partial clover leaf S to the city’s new artery, Mykola Kulish Street (part of Highway P57, S to Hola Prystan), but continued E beyond the city limits, branching off as (M14) E to Melitopol and (E97) SE to the Crimea. Oleshky will be described in more detail as follows 1) the city core, 2) E of the core, 3) industrial areas, 4) SE, 5) S center, and 6) SW.

1) The old Oleshky city core is located in the north-central part of the city, SE of the city dock and two blocks south of the Chaika River. Its institutions (with commercial, residential and small parks) are concentrated in 10 blocks along the streets: from Krylov Street in the N to Central (formerly Proletarska) in the S, and from Olympic in the W to Velyka Sadova (formerly Radianska) in the E.

Proceeding S from the city dock and the new boat club is the dock square with its Oleshky monument; on its NW side, a riverside park with a musical lights fountain; on its S side, a bus stop and convenience store; on its E side, a mansion; on its NE side, Riverside Street and riverbank recreational area. From this square streets radiate: WSW – Dockside Lane, S – Olympic Street, SE – Krylov Street, and E (on S side of the mansion), 1st of May Street, where (240 m E, on N side), among homes, stands the Holy Entry Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate; farther E is the Seventh Day Adventists Church Cultural Center.

From the dock square to the city core the most direct route is along Krylov Street. At the corner where it separates from Olympic Street is a small triangular park with the Pirotsky monument. Beyond the Pirotsky Park there are some residential-commercial establishments on both sides of Kyrova Street as it turns E. On its N side, on Park Street (W side) is the Oleshky Raion Education Office; beyond this point Krylov Street forms the N frame of the Oleshky core.

On the N side of Krylov Street are more residential-commercial uses and the Oleshky Regional Studies Museum and next to it, a house serving as the Jehovah’s Witness Hall; on the S side, a shopping center, the city’s Central Square, and between the square and Steamer (formerly Engels) Street, the Oleshky palace of culture; E of Steamer Street, the mix is mostly residential.

South of Krylov Street is the Rescuers Street (formerly Guards Street), which passes from Post Office Street in the W through the middle of the core. On its N side, E of Park Street, are commercial establishments and a movie theater; beyond it is the Central Square with a sculpture of the tomato plant and a monument of the Trident; E of the square and S of the palace of culture is a park with a monument to the victims of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster; then, between Steamer Street and Velyka Sadova Street is the Oleshky gymnasium campus with its 3 story building, soccer field and monument to Mykola Kulish. On its S side are: between Park and Sofiivska streets, the Archangel Michael church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (in a park setting), then a square with a monument to Taras Shevchenko and the Oleshky Raion Council Building, and between Steamer and Velyka Sadova streets, the main Oleshky Post Office, the Oleshky City Council Building, and other commercial buildings.

The western and southern frame of the city core is defined by the Olympic and Central thoroughfares, respectively. Along Olympic Street (E side), going S from Pirotsky Park, beyond a block of houses is a neighborhood block of two rows of 4 multi-story apartments and, at the corner of Central Street, the 4 story Kolos Hotel. Going E on Central Street (N side) is the former Tsiurupynsk Raion Courthouse (at Post Office Street), then a mix of commercial-residential (N side) and the Oleshky Sand Melioration Research Station (S side of Central Street) and S of it, the Prosecutor’s office (W side of Sofiivska Street), then between Sofiivska and Steamer streets, (N side) a pharmacy and a kindergarten and (S side) the Oleshky Gymnasium No. 2 with its soccer field, and finally, between Steamer and Velyka Sadova streets (N side), a mix of residential and commercial.

2) East of the city core up to Mykola Kulish Street the area is mostly residential. Exceptions are in the E: 1) a building depot (1 km E of the city center square), S of it, 2) the Oleshky farmers’ market, and S of it 3) the Oleshky winery, 4) Oleshky dairy, and S of it, 5) a large children boarding school.

A new commercial-residential district was developed 1.5 km E of the old city center. Its commercial zone is on Kulish Street / Highway P57, between Krylov Street and Central Street, with stores, auto service stations, the new Saint George Orthodox Church (SW corner of Kulish and Central streets), and S of it, the Oleshky fire station, an auto service station and, at Cossack Street, a building supplies center and window installation shop. Residential neighborhoods with 4, 5 and 9 story apartments were built forming 8 city blocks E of Kulish Street. The apartment neighborhoods include 3 kindergartens, a library, a youth activity building, and a small park with war memorial. On Proletarska Street (N side) is a vocational lyceum and E of it, the Oleshky bus terminal, with easy access E to Highway E97/M17.

3) The main Oleshky industrial area is in the NE part of the city, along Highway E97/M17 but mostly NE of it. The Kherson cellulose-paper combine covers about half of it, now mostly in ruins. It also contains the site of the historic Oleshky Sich. Along the highway are mostly services for automobile travelers, with some industrial establishments.

On the SW side of the highway is a building materials shop, then an old industrial park to Proletarska Street where, at its intersection, is a tractor monument and (to the SW, off the highway) a farm equipment depot; farther SE along the highway, some service stations and a motel with a restaurant; behind it, a sand extraction operation and processing plant, and SE along the highway, the OSV Technology plant and campus with water treatment and settling ponds. SW of the sand pit and settling ponds is a field of ground-mounted solar panels of Oleshky Solar Farm 1 (commissioned in August 2018).

Along the NE side of the Highway is a car and tire repair shop and a café, an auto parts store, a custom-house, a monument to the victims of war and a water bottling plant, then a tire shop, a hotel with a restaurant, a post office, another monument to victims of war, and a tire repair shop, and then derelict buildings. Behind these ruins are railway spurs parallel to the highway, leading NW and curving N towards the Kherson cellulose-paper combine. The Kherson cellulose-paper combine covers an area of 1 sq km, mostly in ruins, except for a new large building in its SE corner where corrugated carton is made by Dunopack Tavria LLC. In its NW is a dock on the Konka River. West of the combine are mostly ruins of other enterprises and N of them.

Of Oleshky Sich little remains. In early 19th century, there were outlines of the trench, earthen wall and buildings still visible, and some objects, like boat-shaped caskets, skulls, coins, or spears, found in the area. Following the 1845 storm, the resultant wind storm disturbed the surface. The resultant sand dunes were levelled and planted with osier and bushy willows. Later, the Kherson cellulose-paper combine buildings (1958–62) obscured the site. An exploratory expedition (1990) and archeological digs (1991–92) at an unbuilt plot confirmed the site by finding the remains of 2 Oleshky Sich barracks. On that plot of land on the E side of Guards Street, a wooden arch with a bell, erected in 1991, commemorates the historic Oleshky Sich.

Several new industries were built to the ESE of the Kherson cellulose-paper combine and NE of highway E97/M17, where the railway spur turns ENE towards the Kherson–Dzhankoi main line. At the N corner of highway E97/M17 and local highway 0221701 to the Oleshky railway station and points NE is the Oleshky transformer station. NW of it, on the N side of the railway spur, is the Khenkel Bautekhnik (maker of sealants and adhesives), NE of it, a large complex of the Amethyst machine-building plant with an apartment for its employees, and 0.6 km NE of it, a large field of ground-mounted solar panels of Oleshky Solar Farm 2 (commissioned, August 2018).

4) Southeast. From the southern limit of the new commercial district, marked by a car inspection station (E side) and Forest Street (W side), the Mykola Kulish Street / Highway P57 traverses S (about 1 km) the Kherson Bukovel Wildlife Park (0.6 sq km) with sand dunes anchored by grass and trees, a recreational area with a motocross track. Then, on the E side, is a gas station, a block of garages with a repair shop, and a residential district of homes and gardens; S of the residential district and W of the Oleshky Solar Farm 1 are farm fields. On the W side, Kulish Street / Highway P57 forms the E border of the Tsiurupynsk Pine Forest Preserve (2.8 sq km) for 1.2 km to an intersection. There the city limits are reached and follow Highway P57 WSW and ENE, while the Kulish Street curves SW on the way to the village of Nechaieve.

5) South center consists of a large built-up area extending S from the city core on both sides of Sofiivska Street to the city limits, where this arterial connects to Highway P57 as the highway turns SSW towards the city of Hola Prystan. The built-up area, comprising mostly of individual homes, is wider in the N (4 blocks to the E and 2 blocks to the W) but tapers off to the S making room for the Tsiurupynsk Pine Forest in the SE and farm fields with hothouses in the SW. The exceptions are mostly institutions and parks.

Two blocks S of the city core, from W to E, beginning at Olympic Street (E side), is the Saint Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church and behind it (E side) a kindergarten; then, on S side of Ivan Vyhovsky Street and W side of Sofiivska Street, the Park of Glory with its monuments; immediately S of it, the Start Stadium with its gym, tennis court and other athletic facilities; and E of the Park of Glory, a full block campus with 10 buildings of the Central Regional Hospital. Four blocks farther E, between Ivan Mazepa Street (E side) and Pidlisnyi Provulok (W side) is the Regional Children’s Tuberculosis Hospital, with a park on its campus.

South of this belt of institutions and parks, a block south of the Start Stadium is the Old Park; in its NE corner is the Birth of Saint John the Baptist Church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. To the SE, on Sofiivska Street, is the Christ the Savior Evangelical Christian Baptist Church, and E of it, a block of town houses with shops. South of Ihor Sikorsky Street, the W side of Olympic Street borders on the city’s cemetery with grave monuments of distinguished people buried there. At the SE end of this section is a small industrial area.

6) Southwest section extends some 3.25 km SW from the city core parallel to the Chaika River and consists of individual homes with backyard farming and some small hothouses. Its street grid is uneven; streets parallel to its central thoroughfare, Monastery (formerly Decembrists) Street, increase from 7 to 10 towards the SW. Midway, its main cross-street, Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street, gradually turns S, where it serves to orient cross-streets to follow the general E-W orientation.

Closest to the Chaika River, the Dock Lane provides access to river recreation (clubhouses, docks, parks). The 3rd street S of Dock Lane, the Taras Shevchenko Street, starts at Olympic Street, on S side of a small park. This section’s arterial, Monastery Street, begins as the 4th street S of Dock Lane on the W side of Olympic Street opposite the Kolos Hotel and S of the hotel connects E to the main E-W arterial, Central Street. SW of this intersection is a kindergarten. To the SW (1.3 km) on Monastery Street are located the historic Saint Nina Orthodox Church (NW side) and a supermarket (SE side). The next cross-street, Lake Street, passes (on its E side) a small lake in a park. Beyond the next cross-street, Mykhailo Hrushevsky Street, the backyard hothouses become numerous. This section ends 3 km WSW of Olympic Street with diked floodplains. Going S from Monastery Street along Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street there are food and auto parts stores, and S of it, at the corner of Ihor Sikorsky Street are 4 auto repair shops. Beyond them is a small cemetery (W side) and houses (E side), then a farm center complex (W side) and a road E to fields and hothouses (E side). South of the farm center is another auto repair depot and more large storage buildings (W side); across the road (E side) are fields, hothouses and large storage buildings at the S end of fields. Beyond the city limits, Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street continues S as the local highway 0221720 to the village of Solontsi.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Ihor Stebelsky

[This article was updated in 2026.]