Raions_of_cities_in_Ukraine
An urban district or urban raion (Ukrainian: міський район, romanized: miskyi raion) is the second-level administrative division in certain cities in Ukraine. An urban district is subordinate to a city's administration.[1] There are 118 districts in 20 cities across Ukraine. The cities that contain districts are mostly administrative centers in addition to the two cities with special status (Kyiv and Sevastopol). The number of city districts per region varies between a minimum of two and a high of 21 in Donetsk Oblast. The maximum districts for a single city in the country is Kyiv, which has 10 districts.[2]
Article 133 of the Constitution of Ukraine defines city districts as an element of the administrative-territorial division of the state, while Article 140 states that issues in the organization and management of city districts belongs to the competence of city councils.[1] The status of Kyiv city is defined by the law Про столицю України - місто-герой Київ (transl. About the capital of Ukraine - the hero city Kyiv).[3] Since 18 March 2014, due to the Russian annexation of Crimea, the urban districts of Sevastopol and Simferopol, Crimea, have been controlled by Russia.[4]
During the War in Donbas, a number of urban districts located in cities in southeastern Donetsk Oblast and southern Luhansk Oblast were occupied by pro-Russian separatist forces.[5] As of 30 September 2022, Russia officially claims the formerly-separatist controlled urban districts in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as part of its administrative divisions, in addition to urban districts located in other cities occupied by Russia after it invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022.[6] Before February 2016, many districts were named for people, places, events, and organizations associated with the Russian Empire and Soviet Union; many were renamed since to comply with decommunization and derussification laws.[7][8]
