List of cities in Crimea
There are 18 populated places in the Crimean peninsula that are recognized as having city status. The territory of Crimea has been disputed between Russia and Ukraine since Russia's covert invasion and [Annexation of Crimea by the Russian language|Russian Federation|internationally unrecognized annexation] of the peninsula on 18 March 2014. The region is recognized by most countries as Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol as one of Ukraine's cities with special status while, since its annexation, the region has been de facto governed by Russia as the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol as a city of federal importance. As of 2014, the largest city on the peninsula by population according to Russia's post-annexation census was Sevastopol, with a recorded population of 393,304 people, while the peninsula's second largest city was Simferopol, with 332,317 people. The least populous city on the peninsula was Alupka, which was recorded with a population of 7,771 people in the 2014 census.
In Ukraine, city status is granted by the country's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, to settlements of 10,000 people or more or to settlements of historical or regional importance. Following its occupation and annexation of Crimea, Russia recognized and maintained the existing status of the peninsula's 18 cities. In 2019, Russian officials granted the settlement Balaklava, located in Sevastopol's Balaklava urban district, the status of a city, although still keeping it as part of Sevastopol. Due to the international support for UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262, which recognizes Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea and endorses a policy of non-recognition of Russia's occupation of the peninsula, the new city status is largely not recognized.
Following the passing of decommunization laws, the city of Krasnoperekopsk was renamed in 2023 to Yany Kapu for Krasnoperekopsk's connection to people, places, events, and organizations associated with the Soviet Union. Two cities on the peninsula were awarded by Soviet officials with the honorary title Hero City of Ukraine in 1973 and 1965, respectively, for their resistance to the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II; the titles were renewed in 2022 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Administrative divisions
From independence in 1991 to 2020, 11 cities in the autonomous republic were designated as cities of regional significance, which had self-government under city councils, while the autonomous republic's remaining five cities were located in 14 raions as cities of district significance, which are subordinated to the governments of the raions. Sevastopol, as one of two cities given special status by the constitution, was governed together with the city of Inkerman and other nearby settlements by the Sevastopol City Council, independently from the autonomous republic. Since the country's independence in 1991, the territory of the Sevastopol City Council has been divided between four urban districts: Gagarin, Lenin, Nakhimov, and Balaklava.On 17 July 2020, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada passed a major administrative reform, abolishing the autonomous republic's 11 city municipalities and 14 raions and merging them into 10 reformed raions. The ten raions that make up the territory of the autonomous republic are Bakhchysarai, Bilohirsk, Dzhankoi, Yevpatoria, Kerch, Kurman, Perekop, Simferopol, Feodosia, and Yalta raions. For Sevastopol, the Verkhovna Rada merged Inkerman and other surrounding areas outside Sevastopol's city boundary into the enlarged Bakhchysarai Raion. Due to the region's continued occupation since 2014, the new raions and boundaries have remained solely de jure and Russian officials continue to use the pre-reform administrative divisions in Crimea.