Subdivisions of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, include the formal administrative subdivision into urban districts (raions) and the more detailed informal subdivision into historical neighborhoods. Kyiv is divided in two halves split by Dnieper, therefore there exist two important parts "left-bank Kyiv" which is the newer addition and "right-bank Kyiv" in reference to the Dnieper, which is the original Kyiv city.
History of subdivision
The first known formal subdivision of Kyiv dates to 1810 when the city was subdivided into 4 parts: Pechersk, Starokyiv, and the first and the second parts of Podil. In 1833–1834 according to Tsar Nicholas I's decree, Kyiv was subdivided into 6 police districts; later being increased to 10. As of 1917, there were 8 district councils (Duma), which were reorganized by Pavlo Skoropadskyi into 17 raions. In 1924, Bolsheviks reorganized them into the bigger six party-administrated districts with various sub-districts under Hryhoriy Hrynko administration. Districts of the city that start with the letter "D" are located on the left bank of Dnieper and until 1927 were part of Chernigov Governorate with Darnytsia being the first to be incorporated within the city limits that year.
Over the Soviet time, as city was expanding, the number of districts was gradually increasing. The districts has been also commonly named after Soviet party leaders, and as political situation was changing and some leaders were overturned by the other, so district names were also changing.
The last district reform took place in 2001 when the number of districts was decreased from 14 to 10.
Under Oleksandr Omelchenko (mayor from 1999 to 2006), there were further plans for the merger of some districts and revision of their boundaries, and the total number of districts had been planned to be decreased from 10 to 7. With the election of the new mayor-elect (Leonid Chernovetskyi) in 2006, these plans were conducted.
Districts of Kyiv
Administratively, the city is divided into districts (raions), which have their own units of central and locally elected councils with jurisdiction over a limited scope of affairs. Between 2010 and 2022 the Kyiv district councils were abolished.
The last Kyiv district reorganization took place in 2001, and currently Kyiv districts are: Darnytskyi District (Дарницький район) Desnianskyi District (Деснянський район; after the Desna river) Dniprovskyi District (Дніпровський район; after the Dnieper river) Holosiivskyi District (Голосіївський район) Obolonskyi District (Оболонський район) Pecherskyi District (Печерський район) Podilskyi District (Подільський район) Shevchenkivskyi District (Шевченківський район; after Taras Shevchenko) Solomianskyi District (Солом’янський район) Sviatoshynskyi District (Святошинський район)
Most of the districts are named after respective historical neighborhoods of the city.
Former districts
Zaliznychny (9 April 1938 – October 2001), most of it became the Solomianskyi District Zhovtnevy (~1920s – October 2001), raion was created on the territory of Shuliavka that became famous for the Uprising of 1905, in 1938 khutor Vidradny was incorporated within the raion, later became the Solomianskyi District Minsk (? – 3 March 1975), renamed into Obolon Raion Starokyiv ( – October 2001), merged with Sovietsky to form Shevchenkivskyi District Sovietsky ( – October 2001), merged with Starokyiv to form Shevchenkivskyi District Leningrad (12 April 1973 – October 2001), formed out parts of Zhovtnevy, Sovietsky, and Shevchenko, later renamed into Sviatoshyn Raion Shevchenko (prior to 2001) Rakhiv-Sviatoshyn (January 1924 – April 1973), included Sviatoshyn sub-raion, later became Leningrad Sviatoshyn (1918 – 1924), created by an administrative reform of Pavlo Skoropadskyi, was incorporated as a sub-raion into Rakhiv-Sviatoshyn Moscow (1921 – October 2001), reorganized as Holosiivskyi District Kharkiv (? – 2004), became part of Darnytskyi District
Informal subdivision
The Right Bank and the Left Bank
The natural first level of subdivision of the city is into the Right Bank and the Left Bank of the Dnieper River (a few large islands belong to the left-bank raions).
The Right Bank (), located on the western side of the river, contains the older portions of the city, as well as the majority of Kyiv's business and governmental institutions.
The eastern Left Bank (), incorporated into the city only in the twentieth century, is predominantly residential. There are large industrial and green areas in both the Right Bank and the Left Bank.