Rivne - is a historic city in western Ukraine. It is the
administrative center of the Rivne Oblast (province), as well as
the administrative center of the surrounding Rivne Raion (district)
within the oblast. The city itself is also designated as its own
separate raion within the oblast. Rivne is an important
transportation hub, with the international Rivne Airport, and
rail links to Zdolbuniv, Sarny and Kovel, as well as highways
linking it with Brest, Kiev and Lviv. The current estimated
population is around 249,900 (as of 2004). Rivne was first
mentioned in 1283 as one of the inhabited places of
Halych-Volhynia. From the second half of the 14th century it was
under the Great Duchy of Lithuania and from 1569 in the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1492 the city was granted
Magdeburg rights. Following the partition of Poland, in 1793
Rivne became a part of Russian Empire, and in 1797 it was
declared as a regional town of the Volhynian Governorate.
During World War I and the period of chaos shortly after, it was
briefly under German, Ukrainian, Bolshevik, and Polish forces.
In April-May 1919 Rivne served as the temporary capital of
Ukrainian People's Republic. At the conclusion of the conflict,
in accordance with the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921 it became a
part of Polish Volhynian Voivodeship for the period between the
two World Wars. In 1939, as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop
Pact and the partition of Poland, Wolyn was occupied by the
Soviet Union. From December of the same year Rivne became the
centre of the newly established Rivne Oblast, within the
Ukrainian SSR. On June 28, 1941 Rivne was captured by Nazi
Germany, who later established the city as the administrative
centre of Reichskommissariat Ukraine. At the time, roughly a
half of Rivne's inhabitants were Jewish; of these, about 23000
were taken to a pine grove in Sosenki and killed between the 6th
and the 8th of November. A ghetto was established for the
remaining 5,000 Jews. In July 1942, its population was sent some
70 kilometres north to Kostopil where they were killed; the
ghetto was subsequently liquidated. On February 2, 1944, the
city was liberated by the Red Army, and remained part of Soviet
Ukraine until the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1958
a TV tower began broadcasting in the city; in 1969 the first
trolley ran through the city; in 1969 Rivne airport was opened.
In 1983 the city celebrated its 700th anniversary. |