Kamianske

Kamianske (Ukrainian: Кам'янське, IPA: [kɐmjɐnʲˈsʲkɛ], formerly Dniprodzerzhynsk, is an industrial city in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of Ukraine and a port on the Dnieper. Administratively, it is incorporated within Kamianske municipality as a city of oblast significance. Population: 233,358 (2019 est.)[1]

Not to be confused with Kamianske, Zakarpattia Oblast.

Kamianske Кам'янське
City
Flag Coat of arms
Kamianske Location of Kamianske Show map of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Kamianske Kamianske (Ukraine) Show map of Ukraine
Coordinates: 48°31′00″N 34°37′00″E
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Raion	City of Kamianske
First mentioned	1750
Government
• Mayor	Andriy Byelousov
Area
• Total	138 km^2 (53 sq mi)
Elevation	120 m (390 ft)
Population  (2019)
• Total	233,358
• Density	1,831/km^2 (4,740/sq mi)
Postal code	51900
Area code(s)	+380-5692
Website	http://kam.gov.ua/

The city was known as Dniprodzerzhynsk from 1936 to 2016. On 19 May 2016, it was renamed back to its historical name of Kamianske.[2] Along with the city's name change, the city's hydroelectric station was renamed to Middle Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant.

Besides the hydroelectric station, the city houses a few other industrial enterprises: Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant (closed down), Bahley Coke Factory and Dnieper Metallurgical Combine.

History

St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in Kamianske in the late 19th century.

The first written evidence of settlement in the territory of Kamianske appeared in 1750. At that time the villages of Romankovo and Kamianske, which make up the modern city, formed a part of the Nova (New) Sich of the Zaporizhian cossacks. The city was known as Kamianske, lit. Stony Place (Ukrainian: Кам'янське, Russian: Каменское) until 1936[3] when it was renamed to Dniprodzerzhynsk - the name honored the Dnieper River (Ukrainian: Дніпро, romanized: Dnipro) and the communist Felix Dzerzhynsky (1877-1926), the founder of the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka.

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was born and raised in Kamianske.

On 15 May 2015 the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a bill into law that started a six-month period for the removal of communist monuments and the mandatory renaming of settlements with names related to Communism.[4]

On 19 May 2016, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada voted to rename a number of populated places in Ukraine including the city of Dniprodzerzhynsk, which reverted to using the name Kamianske.[5]

1979 mid-air collision

Main article: 1979 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision

On 11 August 1979 two Aeroflot planes collided over the Central Ukraine, killing all 178 people on both planes.

1996 tram accident

Main article: 1996 Dniprodzerzhynsk tram accident

On 2 July 1996 a traffic accident happened in Dniprodzerzhynsk. An overcrowded tram that was moving along a steep hill on Chapaeva Street began to slide rapidly downhill (because of a brake failure), causing it to derail and hit a concrete wall before coming to a stop very close to a school.[6][7] A total of 34 people died[6] and more than 100 received injuries as a result of the accident.[8] Following a government inquiry into the causes of the accident, the then mayor, Serhiy Shershnev, and his deputy, Ihor Laktionov, resigned.[7][9]

Geography

While mostly located on right bank of Dnieper, Kamianske stretches over the hydroelectric station onto the left bank where the portion of city is known as "Livyi bereh" neighborhood (literally Left bank). The neighborhood arches to the west of the Kamianske's suburb of Kurylivka.

To the east Kamianske municipality borders Dnipro city creating an urban sprawl.

Climate

The climate is moderately continental, dry.[10] The amount of precipitation per year is about 400 mm. The average daily temperature is -6 ° C in January, + 21 ° C in July.[11]

Administrative divisions

• Dniprovskyi district (western city district)
  • neighborhoods: Romankove (former settlement), Livyi bereh
• Zavodskyi district (central city district)
  • neighborhoods: City center, Dnieper Metallurgical Combine
• Pivdennyi district (south and eastern city parts)
  • settlements: Karnaukhivka, Svitle
  • neighborhoods: Sotsmisto, Pivdennyi, Bahliy Coke Factory, DniproAzot and Prydniprovskyi Chemical Factory

Economy

The economic base of Kamianske is almost exclusively centered on heavy industry, with ferrous metallurgy being the backbone of the local economy. Around 57% of the total industrial production is metallurgy and metal working. The chemical industry comes second with ca. 17% share of the total industrial output.[12] While the exceedingly industrialized nature of the local economy ensures a rather high employment rate (as of 01.11.2007, official unemployment stood at 1.40%),[13] it also contributes to excessive pollution and radiation levels in the city.[14]

• Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant (closed down)
• Bahley Coke Factory
• Dnieper Metallurgical Combine
• DniproAzot
• Dniprodzerzhynsk Cement Factory
• Dniprodzerzhynsk Electrical Central
• Middle Dnieper Hydroelectric Plant

Culture

Several Eastern Orthodox churches, the largest being the Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, which dates from 1894,[15] serve the faithful of the city. By 2018, there were 22 parishes of Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kamianske.[16]

The Roman Catholic Church of Saint Nicholas[17] built by the city's Polish community at the end of the nineteenth century, has become one of the centers of Roman Catholicism in Eastern Ukraine. The Catholic Parish of Saint Nicholas also includes a monastery run by the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.[17]

The town has an active Jewish community with a new synagogue and community center.[18]

Ecology

Kamianske is a city with a very difficult environmental conditions. The city is on the top 10 of the most air-polluted cities of Ukraine.[19] There have been suggestions to assign the status of the ecological disaster city. Right-bank part of the city is mostly polluted, where the metallurgical, chemical industrial enterprises are located.

In 2008, an interdepartmental commission for solving environmental problems was created.[20]

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Ukraine

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kamianske is twinned with:

• Kielce, Poland
• Babruysk, Belarus
• Temirtau, Kazakhstan

Gallery

• 
  Orthodox Church of Saint Nicholas
• 
  Roman Catholic Church of Saint Nicholas
• 
  Theatre
• 
  City Hall
• 
  Downtown
• 
  Apartment blocks
• 
  Museum
• 
  Metalurh Stadium
• 
  Monument Prometheus
• 
  Monument Taras Shevchenko
• 
  Train station
• 
  Tram in Kamianske
• 
  The bridge across the Dnieper
• 
  Hydroelectric power plant
• 
  Dniprovsky steel works (DMK)

References

1. "Чисельність наявного населення України (Actual population of Ukraine)" (PDF) (in Ukrainian). State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
2. "Dniprodzerzhynsk renamed Kamianske". www.unian.info. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
3. (in Ukrainian) Dniprodzerzhinsk and several more cities got new names. Ukrayinska Pravda. 19 May 2016
4. (in Ukrainian) Poroshenko signed the laws about decomunization. Ukrayinska Pravda. 15 May 2015
   Poroshenko signs laws on denouncing Communist, Nazi regimes, Interfax-Ukraine. 15 May 20
   Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols, BBC News (14 April 2015)
5. Рада перейменувала Дніпродзержинськ на Кам'янське (in Ukrainian). Українські Національні Новини. May 19, 2016. Archived from the original on May 19, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
6. "Tram accident in the Soviet Union (24 photos)". Bashney.net. Bashney.net. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
7. Pshenichniy, Stanislav (July 7, 2006). "Sad Anniversary in Dneprodzerzhinsk". Dneprovska Pravda (in Russian). Retrieved December 30, 2008.
8. Baltaksa, Mikhail (February 19, 2007). В Днепродзержинске авария с трамваем. Sobytiya (in Russian). Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
9. Interfax-Ukraine (February 19, 2007). В Днепродзержинске трамвай сошел с рельсов, 5 человек ранены (in Russian). Podrobnosti. Retrieved December 30, 2008. В Днепродзержинске в 1996 году было подобное ЧП. Тогда пострадало 34 человека. По результатам расследования был снят с должности председатель Днепродзержинского горсовета. [A similar accident took place in Dniprodzerzhynsk in 1996. On that occasion there were 34 victims. As one of the results of an investigation, the president of the Dniprodzerzhynsk city council was removed from office.]
10. Чугай Н. С. Климат и климатические ресурсы Днепропетровщины. — Днепропетровск: Изд-во Днепропетровского отделения географического общества, 1973. — с.11-18.
11. Географічна енциклопедія України: в 3х т.- К.: «Українська радянська енциклопедія» ім. М. П. Бажана,1989. — Т.1: А-Ж. — с.335
12. "General Characteristics" (in Ukrainian). Dniprodzerzhynsk City Council home page. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
13. "Statistics" (in Ukrainian). Dniprodzerzhynsk City Council home page. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
14. Belitskaia, EN (May–June 1996). "[The characteristics of the air pollution of an industrial region]". Likarska sprava (5–6): 74–8. PMID 9377406.
15. "Каменская епархия УПЦ Официальный сайт - Свято-Николаевский Кафедральный собор УПЦ, г. Каменское". www.eparhia.net. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
16. "Каменская епархия УПЦ Официальный сайт - Днепродзержинский благочинный округ". www.eparhia.net. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
17. Roman Catholic Parish in Kamianske
18. "770.com.ua - Днепродзержинская еврейская община". 770.com.ua - Еврейская община Каменского. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
19. Найбрудніші міста України
20. Розпорядження Кабінету Міністрів України від 11.08.2010

External links

• The murder of the Jews of Dniprodzerzhynsk during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.