The administrative reform of July 2020 merged most of the 490 legacy raions and 118 pre-2020cities of regional significance into 136 reorganized raions, or districts of Ukraine. The next level below raions arehromadas.[3]
In an administrative reform in 2020, all populated places in the country (except for two cities with special status, Kyiv andSevastopol) were resubordinated to raions.[6] The new figure of 136 raions includes 10 in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea andSevastopol; since September 2023, the Crimean raions are functional.[7]
Anoblast inUkraine, sometimes translated asregion orprovince, is the main type of first-level administrative division of the country. Ukraine is aunitary state, thus the oblasts do not have much legal scope of competence other than that which is established in theUkrainian Constitution and by law. Articles 140–146 of Chapter XI of the constitution deal directly with local authorities and their competency.
The administrative status of theAutonomous Republic of Crimea is recognized in the Ukrainian Constitution in Chapter X: Autonomous Republic of Crimea and is governed in accordance with laws passed by Ukraine's parliament. In 2014, the autonomous republic wasillegally annexed by Russia as theRepublic of Crimea.[8]
There are two cities with special status:Kyiv andSevastopol (occupied since 2014). Their administrative status is recognized in the Ukrainian Constitution in Chapter IX: Territorial Structure of Ukraine.[9] Unlike the oblasts and the autonomous republic, the cities with special status only haveurban districts and are not subdivided into hromadas.
The Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukrainian:Автономна Республіка Крим) geographically encompasses the major portion of the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine. Its capital isSimferopol. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the only region within Ukraine that has its own constitution.
On 16 March 2014, after the occupation of Crimea by the Russian military, a referendum on joining the Russian Federation was held. A majority of votes supported the measure. On 21 March 2014, the Russian Duma voted to annex Crimea as asubject into the Russian Federation. The Ukrainian government does not recognize the referendum or annexation of Crimea as legitimate. On 27 March, the UN General Assembly passedResolution 68/262 by 100 to 11 votes, recognizing the referendum as invalid and denying any legal change in the status of Crimea and Sevastopol.
There are three types of hromadas:rural (Ukrainian:сільська громада),settlement (Ukrainian:селищна громада) andurban (Ukrainian:міська громада). There are 1469 hromadas in total (as of November 1, 2023).[16]
TheCossack Hetmanate was divided into military-administrative districts known asregimental districts (polks) whose number fluctuated with the size of the Hetmanate's territory. In 1649, when the Hetmanate controlled both the right and left banks, it included 16 such districts. After the loss of Right-bank Ukraine, this number was reduced to ten. The regimental districts were further divided into companies (sotnias), which were administered by captains (sotnyk).[17] The lowest division was thekurin.
According to theConstitution of the Ukrainian People's Republic, the country was divided into zemlias (lands), volosts and hromadas (communities). This law was not fully implemented as on 29 April 1918 there was the anti-socialist coup in Kyiv, after whichPavlo Skoropadskyi reverted the reform back to thegovernorate-type administration.[18]
In 1932 the territory of the Soviet Ukraine was re-established based on oblasts. At the same time, most of theWestern Ukraine at the time formed part of theSecond Polish Republic and shared in the Polish form of administrative division based onvoivodeships.[21]
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