Tavriisk [Таврійськ; Tavrijs'k]. See Google Map. A city (2022 pop 10,100) on the left bank of the Dnipro River, on the east side of Nova Kakhovka, at the head of the North Crimean Canal, a river port and a local railway node, in the middle of Kherson oblast. Until July 2020 the city (2020 pop 10,360), was part of Greater Nova Kakhovka (65,783). In June 2020, it became the administrative center of the Tavkiisk urban territorial community (hromada) that includes the Tavriisk community (the city of Tavriisk and the settlement of Plodove), and to the SW, the Kamianka community (the villages of Kamianka, Chervone Podillia, Serhiivka, and Tsukury), the Novokamianka community (Novokamianka village), and the Chornianka community (Chornianka village). In conjunction with this restructuring, the services of Tavriisk were appropriately expanded.

History. Tavriisk officially became a city on 2 March 1983 (the youngest of Ukrainian cities) in place of 4 compact worker settlements—Plodove, BMU-5, Skhidne, and Zaliznychnykiv—when they were eastern suburbs of Nova Kakhovka. Located at the S end of the Kakhovka Reservoir and the entrance of the North Crimean Canal, Tavriisk was established on the single track railway (Fedorivka–Snihurivka) that was instrumental to the building of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station. As the local Kakhovka railway node with rail spurs in Tavriisk, into Nova Kakhovka, the Nova Kakhovka bypass to its west end [Raiske 2] and a line to Kakhovka, Tavriisk has a freight yard, warehouses, railway maintenance shops, and the Kakhovka passenger station. Tavriisk also houses the Nova Kahovka freight port and the administration of the North Crimean Canal. Through Tavriisk pass Highway M14/E58 (Odesa–Mykolaiv–Kherson–Nova Kakhovka–Melitopol–Mariupol). Tavriisk also gained some industries: the making of building materials, machine-building, grain milling and meat packing (now defunct).

The population of Tavriisk grew (in thousands) from 8.4 (1979) to 11.6 (1989), then declining to 11.5 (2001), 11.0 (2012) and 10,108 (2022). The ethnic composition of the city’s 11,452 residents in 2001 was (in percent): Ukrainians (77.38), Russians (20.29) Belarusians (0.86), Tatars (0.21), Bulgarians (0.19), Poles (0.11), and others (0.51).

Following the 1991 Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence, the Nova Kakhovka River Port, serving river barges with cranes, was augmented with a new, modern dock (financed by Chumak, a food processing company in Kakhovka founded by Swedish entrepreneurs in 1996, and Alfred Topfer International, Ukrainian subsidiary of a German company, with 8 elevator grain bins at a new dock), an industrial and food packaging plant, and the Petronick Industrial Machinery plant. A number of churches were built in Tavriisk: in addition to 1) the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, there was the addition of 2) the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary Roman Catholic Church (parish registered in 1992, permission to build church in 1998, built in 2000), 3) the Evangelist God’s Church ‘Father’s Home’ (est 2002), and 4) Saint Eliah Orthodox Church of Ukraine (initiated parish in 2006, church built in 2016). Infrastructure of the city was improved with the reconstruction (2021) of the highway bridge over the North Crimean Canal and the construction of the modern Tavriisk stadium with its sports fields.

During the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, on 24 February 2022 Russian forces occupied Tavriisk. A Russian mobile command post set up in the city was reported destroyed by Ukrainian counter-attack in July 2022, but Russian control of the left bank of the Dnipro River and this city was retained. Both rail and highway connections over the Kakhovka Dam were severed after the Russian invasion (February 2022), with the Russian–Ukrainian front along the Dnipro River (since November 2022), and then physically destroyed with the destruction (6 June 2023) of the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station.

City plan. Separated from Nova Kakhovka by the North Crimean Canal, the settlements’ and then city’s 2 grids were laid out in two directions: NNW-SSE, along the E side of the canal, and ENE-WSW, along the railway track. This resulted in an area comprising 2 rectangles (NNW and ENE) that join to form a backward leaning L. With the sides of each rectangle about 2.5 km long and 1 km wide, they combine to form an area of 6 sq km. The land uses of Tavriisk (approximately, in percent) are: residential and commercial (54), of which multi-story apartments (7) older 2-story apartments (5) and individual homes with gardens (40), institutional (2), industrial (20), parks (6), and green spaces (18).

Tavriisk lacks a single defined core, as its settlements and then city developed along two transport routes. The railway crossed the canal to the ENE, with spurs on both sides serving industries; the railway worker settlement was built on its N side, its streets laid out parallel to the railway, thus forming the eastern part of Tavriisk, the Kakhovka passenger station at mid-point of the settlement, and a freight yard with maintenance shops at its eastern end. Industries serviced by the rail spurs included: (N side) the Petronick Industrial Machinery Plant and 2 warehouses; (S side) building materials, food processing, grain elevator and warehouses.

The highway from Nova Kakhovka, after crossing the canal (just S of the railway bridge) into Tavriisk meets a traffic circle leading in 2 directions: N and S. Going S, is the Industrial Street, which then turns E to service the industries on the S side of the railway tracks and freight yard; on the outer (W and S) sides of Industrial Street are blocks of individual family housing with gardens. The highway at the traffic circle turns N, crossing the railway tracks, then turns ENE (perpendicular to the canal) and continues to the city’s limits to form the city’s major corridor as Independence Street and the base of the northern part of the city. Beyond the last city intersection (Port Street), the highway trends ENE (where it forms the N side of the eastern part of the city) with apartments, service station and a park featuring a steam locomotive (S side) and then turns NE towards Kakhovka and beyond.

Lined with trees, Independence Street is home to institutions related to the North Crimean Canal, the development of the Kakhovka Irrigation System as well as industrial, residential, commercial and other institutional uses. Proceeding from the SW to NE, they are (SE side) the Petronick Industrial Machinery Plant, the North Crimean Canal Administration, the Water Information Center with its workshops, and beyond the intersection with Ivan Franko Street, the Museum of Water Melioration of Kherson oblast, then a row of 2-story apartments; and (NW side) behind a buffer of trees, 5-story apartments, a museum of the city’s history, then 9-story apartments, 2-story apartments, a kindergarten and Lyceum No. 1. On Ivan Franko Street is the city hall, the post office, and the office of the Kakhovka Hydrogeological Melioration Expedition (est 1964), some 2-story apartments, and on a cleared lot, a church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (built after 1991). Northwest of Independence Street, beyond the first row of blocks with high-rise apartments, are blocks of residential housing: 2-story apartments on the street facing the high-rises, and single homes along 13 streets to the NW beyond. From the Ivan Franko intersection with Independence Street, the Youth Street leads NW to a square and a park behind it, which it passes on both sides; the square now contains the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary church (RCC); the park behind it has a monument to the unknown soldier, a playground for children, and beyond it, the Saint Elijah Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Facing the park is a house serving as the Evangelist God’s Church ‘Father’s Home’. West of this housing area, along the North Crimean Canal, is a strip of woodland. North of the housing area is open green space, beyond which to the NW are the control gates of the North Crimean Canal and on the former shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir, the Slavutych Recreation Center (tennis courts, athletic field), E of it, recreational boating, and then the new and old Nova Kakhovka River Port.

Port Street connects both parts of the city and is the main conduit to the eastern part of the city. North of the highway, Port Street proceeds NNW past residential blocks (W side) and (E side, outside the city) farm fields, then Little Kakhovka Forest Local Preserve to the Nova Kakhovka River Port; S of the highway, it leads SSE through an area of high rise (NE side) and low rise (SW side) apartments, then connects ENE to the Railway Station Street, the central street of the eastern part of the city.

The eastern part of the city extends E of Port Street along the Railway Station Street to its eastern limits. Other parallel streets are not entirely continuous. Going E on Railway Station Street are some large homes (N side) fronting a wooded area (S side), then a block of 5-story apartments (both sides), then more large homes (N side) and wooded area before the intersection with Club Lane that leads S to the Kakhovka Railway Station; along the way to the railway station (W side) is a memorial square with a monument to the fallen in the Second World War (E side) and a large (14 ha) park with a sports club stadium. Continuing E along Railway Street past the park (S side) and 3 blocks of 2-story apartments (N side), the housing switches to 5-story apartments next to the park (S side) and single family houses (N side) before the intersection with East Street; that street leads S to the Kakhovka railway depot. The next major street N is Kakhovka Street. From the intersection with Ivan Franko Street, Kakhovka Street extends E past the house of culture, 2-story apartments (S side), then Lyceum No. 2 and its sports field (N side) and more 2-story apartments (S side), to the city hospital campus (N side); beyond the hospital the residences consist of single houses with small gardens. The last significant street is the North Street that passes individual housing (N side) and the city hospital (S side) and then a large residential school; beyond this point are single houses with small gardens.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
‘Tavriis'k’ in Heohrafichna entsyklopediia Ukraïny vol 3 (Kyiv 1993)
Tavriis'ka mis'ka terytorial'na hromada. ‘Pro misto’ (Tavriisk 2019, updated 2025)
‘Karta Kakhovky, Khersonskoï oblasti, z vulytsiamy’ in Mapa Ukraïny (Kyiv 2025)

Ihor Stebelsky

[This article was written in 2025.]