Ternopil, Ukraine

🇺🇦 Ternopil, UkraineTernopil (Ukrainian: Тернопіль, IPA: [terˈnɔp⁽ʲ⁾ilʲ] (listen); Polish: Tarnopol; Yiddish: טארנאפאל, romanized: Tarnapol; Hebrew: טרנופול, romanized: Tarnopol; German: Tannstadt; Russian: Тернополь, romanized: Ternopol; Belarusian: Тарнопаль, romanized: Tarnopal), known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in the west of Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret. Administratively, it serves as the administrative centre of Ternopil Oblast. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. It is served by Ternopil Airport.

Geography: Administrative status The city is the administrative centre 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.

Until 18 July 2020, Ternopil was designated as a city of oblast significance and did not belong to Ternopil Raion even though it was the centre of the raion. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Ternopil Oblast to three, the city was merged into Ternopil Raion.

History 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 On 15 April 1540, the King of Poland, Sigismund I the Old, in Kraków gave Tarnowski permission to establish Tarnopol, near Sopilcze (Sopilche). protecting the eastern borders of Polish Kingdom from Tatar raids. 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.

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.

During World War I the city passed from German and Austrian forces to Russia several times. In 1917, the city and its castle were burned down by fleeing Russian forces. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the city was proclaimed as 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.

As a consequence of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, 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. Between then and July 1943, 10,000 Jews were killed by Nazi Germans, 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 in Lviv on 30 June 1941, Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was active in Ternopil region and battled for the independence of Ukraine, opposing Nazis, Polish Armia Krajowa and People's Army of Poland as well as the Soviets. During the Soviet offensive in March and April 1944, the city was almost completely destroyed by Soviet artillery. Finally, Ternopol 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 the following decades, Ternopil was rebuilt in a typical Soviet style and only a few buildings were reconstructed.

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Ternopil became part of the independent Ukraine as a city of regional significance. On 31 December 2013, the 11th Artillery Brigade, 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.

Demographics According to Ukrainian Census (2001), Ternopil city and Ternopil oblast are homogeneously populated by ethnic Ukrainians. Ternopil city and Ternopil oblast are also homogeneously Ukrainian-speaking.

National structure of Ternopil Oblast - 1,138.5 (100%) • Ukrainians - 1,113.5 (97.8%) • Russians - 14.2 (1.2%) • Poles - 3.8 (0.3%)

Native languages in Ternopil: • Ukrainian language — 94.8 %, • Russian language — 3.37 %, • Belarusian language — 0.07 %, • Polish language — 0.04 %.

According to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in April-May 2023, 98 % of the city's population spoke Ukrainian at home, and 1 % spoke Russian.

Economy 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.

Transport 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.

Education: University Universities include: • West Ukrainian National University • Ternopil Ivan Pul'uj National Technical University • Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatyuk National Pedagogical University • Ternopil State Medical University

Tourist Industry • Ternopil Regional Art Museum • Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, Ternopil • Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary • The sanctuary of Our Lady of Zarvanytsia with a miraculous icon of the 13th century called icon of the Mother of God of Zarvanytsia, sanctuary of Greek-Catholic rite. Located about 40 km from Ternopil, celebrated on 22 July.