Kamianka Кам'янка | |
|---|---|
 Flag  Seal | |
  Kamianka Location in Ukraine Show map of Ukraine | |
| Coordinates:47°21′48″N36°39′19″E / 47.36333°N 36.65528°E /47.36333; 36.65528 | |
| Country |  Ukraine |
| Oblast | Zaporizhzhia Oblast |
| Raion | Polohy Raion |
| Hromada | Kamianka settlement hromada |
| Population (2022)[1] | |
• Total | 6,358 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Kamianka (Ukrainian:Кам'янка) is arural settlement inPolohy Raion,Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southernUkraine. It is located in the eastern part of the oblast. Population:6,358 (2022 estimate).[1] It is the center ofKamianka settlement hromada, one of thehromadas of Ukraine.
c. 1782 in theRussian Empire, settlers fromPoltava Governorate founded the settlementKamianka. Its name was derived from theKamianka [uk] river, upon which the village sits. On a map from the first half of the 19th century, the village is marked asBelmanka (Ukrainian:Бельманка), from the nearby Turkic "Bilmak" burial mounds.[2] In 1797, it was renamedTsarekostiantynivka afterGrand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia. The population grew with the settlement bystate serfs from other parts of what is now northernUkraine.[2][3]
During theRussian Civil War that began in 1918, Tsarekostiantynivka changed hands several times between the opposing forces, before eventually being taken over by theBolsheviks in late October 1920. Incorporated into theUkrainian SSR of the newly established communistSoviet Union, the village suffered as a result ofcollectivization in the republic.[3] In March 1923,Tsarekostiantynivka Raion was created as a raion ofBerdiansk Okruha [uk], with its center in Tsarekostiantynivka. In January 1926, Tsarekostiantynivka was renamed toPershotravneve, supposedly "following the wishes of the population", according to official Soviet sources. Tsarekostiantynivka Raion was also renamed toPershotravneve Raion.[2] The village suffered during theHolodomor, a manmade famine across Soviet Ukraine in 1932 and 1933.[3] In April 1935, Pershotravneve was again renamed toKuibysheve (Ukrainian:Куйбишеве) in honor of the Soviet politicianValerian Kuybyshev.[2]
DuringWorld War II, Kuibysheve was occupied byNazi Germany between October 6, 1941 and September 15, 1943. Kuibysheve receivedurban-type settlement status in 1957.[3]
After Ukrainian independence, on 21 May 2016, theVerkhovna Rada adopted a decision to rename Kuibysheve Raion to Bilmak Raion and Kuibysheve toBilmak (Ukrainian:Більмак) according to thelaw prohibiting names of Communist origin.[4] The new name was chosen because of a nearby Turkic burial mound named "Belmak". However, when transferred to the Ukrainian language, "bilmak" can mean roughly "a person with ablack eye". This offended the residents of the town, and they continued to use the Communist name in colloquial speech. They suggested returning to its original name of "Kamianka"[5] and the Verkhovna Rada adopted this proposal on 6 October 2021.[6]
In March 2022, duringRussian invasion of Ukraine, the town was captured by Russian forces.
Until 26 January 2024, Kamianka was designatedurban-type settlement. On this day, a new law entered into force which abolished this status, and Kamianka became a rural settlement.[7]
| Population history | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1859 | 1897 | 1914 | 1959 | 1970 | 1979 | 2001 | 2015 | 2022 |
| Pop. | 4,451[3] | 8,188[3] | 7,571[3] | 5,400[3] | 6,900[3] | 7,900[3] | 8,134[3] | 7,234[3] | 6,358[1] |
| ±% p.a. | — | +1.62% | −0.46% | −0.75% | +2.25% | +1.52% | +0.13% | −0.83% | −1.83% |
As of theUkrainian census in 2001, Kamianka (formerlyKuybysheve/Bilmak) had a population of 8,134 inhabitants. The native language composition was as follows:[8]
| percent | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ukrainian | 92.8% | |||
| Russian | 6.8% | |||
| Belarusian | 0.2% | |||
| Moldovan | 0.1% | |||
| others | 0.1% | |||
The settlement is onHighway H08 connectingZaporizhzhia andMariupol.
The closest railway station is atKomysh-Zoria, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) southeast of Kamianka. It has connections to Zaporizhzhia,Volnovakha, andBerdiansk. There is passenger traffic through the station.
