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Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. The population of Ternopil was estimated at
The city is the administrative center 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 of Ukraine.
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 Empire rule, incorporated into the newly created , but in 1815 returned to Austrian Empire 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 Empire and Austria-Hungary 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 Zluky 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.
The Jewish and German population accepted the new Ukrainian state, but the Poles started a military campaign against the Ukrainian authority ... On November 11, 1918 following bloody fighting, the Polish forces captured Lwów. The government of the WUPR moved to Ternopol and from the end of December the Council and the Government of the WUPR were located in Ivano-Frankivsk.
On 2 July 1941, the city was occupied by the Nazis. Between then and July 1943, 10,000 Jews were killed by Nazi Germans with the help of ukrainian militia, 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.
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 independent Ukraine, as a city of regional significance. On 31 December 2013, the 11th Artillery Brigade, the 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.
National breakdown of Ternopil Oblast (total population 1,138,500):
Native languages in Ternopil:
According to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in 2023, 98% of the city's population spoke Ukrainian at home and 1% spoke Russian.
Former twin towns include:
Joel Lion, the Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine, expressed Israel’s strong objection to the city's choice to name the stadium in honor of Roman Shukhevych. Lion wrote, "We strongly condemn the decision of Ternopil city council to name the City Stadium after the infamous Hauptman (Captain) of the SS 201st Schutzmannschaft Roman Shukhevych and demand the immediate cancellation of this decision".
The Eastern Europe Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Efraim Zuroff wrote,
"It is fully understandable that Ternopil seeks to honor those who fought against Soviet Communism, but not those behind the mass murder of innocent fellow citizens." in a statement attempting to convince Ternopil to reconsider the "renaming of its stadium in honor of Nazi collaborator, Hauptmann of the SS Schutzmannschaft 201, Roman Shukhevych, an active participant in the mass murder of Jews and Poles in World War II."
West Ukrainian People's Republic in the "Dovidnyk z istoriï Ukraïny" (A hand-book on the History of Ukraine), 3-Volumes, Kyiv, 1993–1999, (t. 1), (t. 2), (t. 3). 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 Ternopil Oblast.
(2025). 9780253355997, University of Indiana Press. ISBN 9780253355997 Many Ukrainians were sent as Unfree labour to Germany. Following the act of restoration of the Ukrainian state, proclaimed by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in Lviv on 30 June 1941, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was active in the Ternopil region and battled for the independence of Ukraine, opposing the Polish underground Armia Krajowa and People's Army of Poland as well as the Nazis and the Soviets. In 1942 the Germans operated the Stalag 323 prisoner-of-war camp for French POWs in the city. (2025). 9780253060891, Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. ISBN 9780253060891 During the Soviet offensive in March and April 1944, the city was almost completely destroyed by Soviet artillery. (2025). 9783421062352, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. ISBN 9783421062352 It was occupied by the Red Army on 15 April 1944. After the second Soviet occupation, 85% of the city's living quarters were destroyed.
Geography
Climate
Ternopil has a moderate continental climate with cold winters and warm summers.
Demographics
According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, Ternopil city and Ternopil Oblast are homogeneously populated by ethnic Ukrainians. Both Ternopil city and Ternopil Oblast are also homogeneously Ukrainian-speaking.
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 Pond mostly for tourist purposes. Ternopil Airport was opened for civilian traffic in 1985, but ceased commercial operations in 2010.
Higher education
Universities include:
Main sights
Notable people
Sport
People from Ternopil Oblast
Lived in Ternopil
International relations
Ternopil is twinned with:
Stadium naming controversy
In 2021, Ternopil created international outrage, especially in the Jewish community, by deciding to name a city stadium in honor of Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevych. Shukhevych was the military leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army during World War II and was known for his collaboration with the Nazi regime as well as his responsibility for the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. As a result, the City Council of Tarnów decided to suspend its partnership with Ternopil.
Russo-Ukrainian War
In June 2022, due to the full-scale Russian invasion and missile strikes from the territory of Belarus, Ternopil suspended its partnership with the city of Pinsk.
Festivals
An international open-air music festival called has been held annually near Ternopil for 2–4 days in July since 2013.
Notes
Sources
External links
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