Ternopil


Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. The population of Ternopil was estimated at
The city is the administrative center of Ternopil Oblast, as well as of surrounding Ternopil Raion within the oblast. It hosts the administration of Ternopil urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.
WWW Official SiteFB Ternopil.rada

History

The city was founded in 1540 by Polish commander and Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski. Its Polish name, Tarnopol, means 'Tarnowski's city' and stems from a combination of the founder's family name and the Greek term polis. The city served as a military stronghold and castle protecting the eastern borders of Polish Kingdom from Tatar raids. On 15 April 1540, the King of Poland, Sigismund I the Old, in Kraków gave Tarnowski permission to establish Tarnopol, near Sopilcze. In 1570, the city passed to the Ostrogski family, and in 1623 to the Zamoyski family. During the Khmelnytsky Uprising, many residents of the city joined the ranks of the Cossack forces. During the 1672–1676 Polish–Ottoman War, Tarnopol was almost completely destroyed by Turkish forces of Ibrahim Shishman Pasha in 1675, then rebuilt by Aleksander Koniecpolski.
A period of decline followed, during which the city suffered from the rebellion of Bar Confederation, and in 1770 its population was significantly reduced by a cholera epidemic. In 1772, after the First Partition of Poland, the city came under Austrian rule. In 1809, after the War of the Fifth Coalition, the city came under Russian rule, incorporated into the newly created , but in 1815 returned to Austrian rule in accordance with the Congress of Vienna. In 1870 Tarnopol was connected by railway with Lemberg and Pidvolochysk. During the late 19th and early 20th century it was the only urban locality in Galicia, where ethnic Ukrainians formed a majority compared to Poles. In 1898 a Ukrainian language gymnasium was opened in the city. Among notable representatives of the Ukrainian national movement active in Ternopil during that period were Oleksander Barvinsky and Volodymyr Luchakivskyi.
During World War I, the city passed from German and Austro-Hungarian forces to Russia several times. In 1916 a Ukrainian theatre and a number of schools teaching in the Ukrainian language were opened. In 1917 the city and its castle were burned down by fleeing Russian Army|Russian forces]. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ternopil was proclaimed part of the West Ukrainian People's Republic on 11 November 1918. After Polish forces captured Lwów during the Polish-Ukrainian War, Tarnopol became the country's temporary capital. After the Act of Union between the West Ukrainian Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic, Ternopil formally became part of the UPR. On 15 July 1919, the city was captured by Polish forces. In July and August 1920, the Red Army captured Ternopil in the course of the Polish-Soviet War, and the city served as the capital of the short-lived Galician Soviet Socialist Republic. Under the terms of the Riga treaty, the area remained under Polish control.
During the Interwar period the city served as the capital of Tarnopol Voivodeship, but its economic importance declined due to the closure of the nearby eastern border. In 1930 the local Ukrainian gymnasium was closed as part of government-promoted campaigns of Polonization and Pacification of [Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia|Pacification]. Despite this, Ternopil continued to serve as a centre of Ukrainian culture, education, religion and sports.
As a consequence of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, Ternopil was incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic as part of Ternopol Oblast.
On 2 July 1941, the city was occupied by the Nazis following mass executions of imprisoned locals by Soviet authorities. Between then and July 1943, 10,000 Jews were killed by Nazi Germans with the help of ukrainian militia, and another 6,000 were rounded up and sent to Belzec extermination camp. A few hundred others went to labor camps. During most of this time Jews lived in the Tarnopol Ghetto. Many Ukrainians were sent as forced labour to Germany. Following the act of restoration of the Ukrainian state, proclaimed by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in Lviv on 30 June 1941, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was active in the Ternopil region and battled for the independence of Ukraine, opposing the Polish underground Armia Krajowa and People's Army of Poland as well as the Nazis and the Soviets. In 1942 the Germans operated the Stalag 323 prisoner-of-war camp for French POWs in the city. During the Soviet offensive in March and April 1944, the city was almost completely destroyed by Soviet artillery, losing over half of its buildings. It was occupied by the Red Army on 15 April 1944. After the second Soviet occupation, 85% of the city's living quarters were destroyed.
Following the Potsdam Conference in 1945, Poland's borders were redrawn and Ternopil was incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. The ethnic Polish population of the area was forcibly deported to postwar Poland. In 1953 a plan of the city's reconstruction was approved, and in the following decades Ternopil was rebuilt in a typical Soviet style, with only a few pre-war buildings being restored. Under the Soviet rule Ternopil became an important industrial centre specializing in food production, as well as light industry, manufacturing of construction materials, electronics, machine-building etc.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Ternopil became part of independent Ukraine, as a city of regional significance. On 31 December 2013, the 11th Artillery Brigade, the descendant of artillery units that had been based in the city since 1949, was disbanded. In 2020, as part of the administrative reform in Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Ternopil Oblast to three, the city was merged into Ternopil Raion.
During the Russo-Ukrainian War, Ternopil was struck by Russian missiles on 13 May 2023, minutes before Ternopil natives Tvorchi performed at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. On 19 November 2025 another Russian strike hit a residential area, killing at least 34 people.

Geography

Climate

Ternopil has a moderate continental climate with cold winters and warm summers.

Demographics

Historical population

According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, Ternopil city and Ternopil Oblast are homogeneously populated by ethnic Ukrainians. Both Ternopil city and Ternopil Oblast are also homogeneously Ukrainian-speaking.
Starting from the city's foundation and until the 20th century its demographics were dominated by Ukrainians, Poles and Jews. In 1900 44,3% of Ternopil's population belonged to Jewish religion, with most of the rest being Ukrainians and Poles. By 1939 the Jewish population had declined to 39,3%, the number of Poles had risen to 39,7% and Ukrainians comprised 19,2% of the population.
The city's population underwent a radical change following the establishment of the Soviet regime, and by 1959 78% of its inhabitants were Ukrainians, 15% - Russians, meanwhile the share of Poles had declined to 5%.

Modern situation

National breakdown of Ternopil Oblast :
  • Ukrainians: 1,113,500
  • Russians: 14,250
  • Poles: 3,800
Native languages in Ternopil:
According to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in 2023, 98% of the city's population spoke Ukrainian at home and 1% spoke Russian.

Economy

Ternopil is a centre for the light industry, food industry, radio-electronic and construction industries. In the Soviet and early post-Soviet period, a harvester plant and a porcelain factory operated in the city.

Transport

Ternopil is an important railway hub with connections to most major railway stations of Ukraine. The city lies on the M12 international highway connecting western and central regions of Ukraine. Trolleybus lines and a bus station are active in the city. Water transport operates on Ternopil artificial lake mostly for tourist purposes. An airport was opened for civilian traffic in 1985, but ceased commercial operations in 2010.

Higher education

Universities include:

Main sights

Notable people

Sport

People from Ternopil Oblast

Lived in Ternopil

  • Sofia Yablonska, Ukrainian-French travel writer, photographer and architect
  • Les Kurbas, Ukrainian theatre director and actor, founder of the first Ukrainian theatre in Ternopil

International relations

Ternopil is twinned with:
Former twin towns include:

Stadium naming controversy

In 2021, Ternopil created international outrage, especially in the Jewish community, by deciding to name a city stadium in honor of Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevych. Shukhevych was the military leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army during World War II and was known for his collaboration with the Nazi regime as well as his responsibility for the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. As a result, the City Council of Tarnów decided to suspend its partnership with Ternopil.
Joel Lion, the Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine, expressed Israel’s strong objection to the city's choice to name the stadium in honor of Roman Shukhevych. Lion wrote, "We strongly condemn the decision of Ternopil city council to name the City Stadium after the infamous Hauptman of the SS 201st Schutzmannschaft Roman Shukhevych and demand the immediate cancellation of this decision".
The Eastern Europe Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Efraim Zuroff wrote,
"It is fully understandable that Ternopil seeks to honor those who fought against Soviet Communism, but not those behind the mass murder of innocent fellow citizens." in a statement attempting to convince Ternopil to reconsider the ''"renaming of its stadium in honor of Nazi collaborator, Hauptmann of the SS Schutzmannschaft 201, Roman Shukhevych, an active participant in the mass murder of Jews and Poles in World War II."''

Russo-Ukrainian War

In June 2022, due to the full-scale Russian invasion and missile strikes from the territory of Belarus, Ternopil suspended its partnership with the city of Pinsk.
On 19 November 2025, a Russian strike on an apartment building in Ternopil killed at least 26 people, including 3 children.

Festivals

An international open-air music festival called has been held annually near Ternopil for two to four days in July since 2013.