Kamianske

Kamianske Кам'янське
City
Svobody Avenue in Kamianske
Flag Coat of arms
Nickname:  Dniprodym
Kamianske Location of Kamianske
Coordinates: 48°31′00″N 34°37′00″E
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Dnipropetrovsk
First mentioned	1750
Government
• Mayor	Andriy Byelousov
Area
• Total	138 km2 (53 sq mi)
Elevation	120 m (390 ft)
Population  (2016)
• Total	239,237
• Density	1,831/km2 (4,740/sq mi)
Postal code	51900
Area code	+380-5692
Website	http://www.dndz.gov.ua/

Kamianske (Ukrainian: Кам'янське, Ukrainian pronunciation: [ˈkɑmjɑnʲsʲkɛ]), formerly Dniprodzerzhynsk, is an industrial city in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of Ukraine, and a port on the Dnieper River. Administratively, it is incorporated within Kamianske municipality as a city of oblast significance. Population: 239,237 (2016 est.). Kamianske is a twin city of Dnipro.

Along with the city's name change, there was renamed the city's hydroelectric station to Middle Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant.

Beside the hydroelectric station, the city houses few other industrial enterprises Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant (closed down), Bahley Coke Factory, and Dnieper Metallurgical Combine.

History

St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in Kamianske in the late 19th century.

The first written evidence of settlement in the territory of Kamianske appeared in 1750. At that time the villages of Romankovo and Kamianske, which make the modern city, were a part of the Nova (New) Sich of the Zaporizhian cossacks. The city was known as Kamianske, Stony Place (Ukrainian: Кам'янське, Russian: Каменское) until 1936 when it was renamed to Dniprodzerzhynsk in honor of communist Felix Dzerzhynsky, the founder of the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka. On May 19, 2016 the city was renamed back to historical name of Kamianske. According to the latest data, its population is 273,700.

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was born and raised in Kamianske.

On 15 May 2015 President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a bill into law that started a six months period for the removal of communist monuments and the mandatory renaming of settlements with a name related to Communism.

On 19 May 2016 the Verkhovna Rada voted to rename a number of populated places in Ukraine including the city of Dniprodzerzhynsk into Kamianske.

1996 tram accident

Main article: 1996 Kamianske tram accident

On July 2, 1996 a notorious traffic accident happened in Kamianske. An overcrowded tram that was moving along a steep hill on Chapaeva Street began to slide rapidly downhill (because of a brake failure), causing it to derail and hit a concrete wall before coming to a stop very close to a school. A total of 34 people died and more than a 100 were injured as a result of that accident. Following a government inquiry into the causes of the accident the then mayor, Serhiy Shershnev, and his deputy, Ihor Laktionov, resigned.

Geography

While mostly located on right bank of Dnieper, Kamianske stretches over the hydroelectric station onto the left bank where the portion of city is known as "Livyi bereh" neighborhood (literally Left bank). The neighborhood arches to the west of the Kamianske's suburb of Kurylivka.

To the east Kamianske municipality borders Dnipro city creating an urban sprawl.

Administrative division

• Dniprovskyi district (western city district)
  • neighborhoods: Romankove (former settlement), Livyi bereh
• Zavodskyi district (central city district)
  • neighborhoods: City center, Dnieper Metallurgical Combine
• Pivdennyi district (south and eastern city parts)
  • settlements:Karnaukhivka, Svitle
  • neighborhoods: Sotsmisto, Pivdennyi, Bahliy Coke Factory, DniproAzot and Prydniprovskyi Chemical Factory

Economy

The economic base of Kamianske is almost exclusively centered on heavy industry, with ferrous metallurgy being the backbone of the local economy. Around 57% of the total industrial production is metallurgy and metal working. The chemical industry comes second with ca. 17% share of the total industrial output. While the exceedingly industrialized nature of the local economy ensures a rather high employment rate (as of 01.11.2007, official unemployment stood at 1,40%), it also contributes to excessive pollution and radiation levels in the city.

• Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant (closed down)
• Bahley Coke Factory
• Dnieper Metallurgical Combine
• DniproAzot
• Dniprodzerzhynsk Cement Factory
• Dniprodzerzhynsk Electrical Central
• Middle Dnieper Hydroelectric Plant

Culture

Several Eastern Orthodox churches, the largest being the Orthodox Church of Saint Nicholas, which dates from 1894, serve the faithful of the city. By 2008, there were 14 parishes of Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kamianske.

The Roman Catholic Church of Saint Nicholas built by the city's Polish community at the end of the nineteenth century, has become one of the centers of Roman Catholicism in Eastern Ukraine. The Catholic Parish of Saint Nicholas also includes a monastery run by the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.

The town has an active Jewish community with a new synagogue and community center.

Ecology

Kamianske is a city with a very difficult environmental conditions. There have been suggestions to assign the status of the ecological disaster city. Right-bank part of the city is mostly polluted, where the metallurgical, chemical industrial enterprises are located.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Ukraine

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kamianske is twinned with:

• Kielce, Poland
• Babruysk, Belarus
• Khimki, Russia
• Temirtau, Kazakhstan
• Alchevsk, Ukraine

Gallery

• 
  Orthodox Church of Saint Nicholas
• 
  Roman Catholic Church of Saint Nicholas
• 
  Theatre
• 
  City Hall
• 
  Downtown
• 
  Apartment blocks
• 
  Museum
• 
  Metalurh Stadium
• 
  Monument Prometheus
• 
  Monument Taras Shevchenko
• 
  Train station
• 
  Tram in Kamianske
• 
  The bridge across the Dnieper
• 
  Hydroelectric power plant
• 
  Dniprovsky steel works (DMK)

External links

• The murder of the Jews of Dniprodzerzhynsk during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.