Oleksandriia [Олександрія; Oleksandrija]. Map: V-14. A city (2016 pop 82,187) on the Inhulets River and a raion center in Kirovohrad oblast. It was founded in the early 18th century as the settlement Usivka, and it was renamed Becheiu (Becha, Bechka) in the 1750s. Between 1752 and 1764 the town was a regimental military center in New Serbia. In 1784 it was renamed Oleksandriisk and later Oleksandriia and chosen as a county center of Kherson gubernia. The city is the center of the Oleksandriia Lignite Coal Region: it has three strip mines, two mine shafts, and two briquette factories. It also has a machine building and a food industry.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]