Rivne Region

Rivne Oblast is an oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Rivne. The area of the region is 20,100 km²; its population (as of 2004-05-01) is 1.2 million. Previously part of the Second Republic of Poland's Wojewódstwo Wołyńskie, the Rivne Oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on December 4, 1939 after the Soviet invasion and occupation of eastern Poland on 17 September 1939.

Before 1992, under the policy of Russification, the region was officially known under its Russian name of Rovno Oblast. In the mass media it is often referred as Rivnenshchyna - Ukrainian: Рівненщина.

The Rivne Nuclear Power Plant is located in the oblast, near the city of Varash.

Geography

The region is located almost in the middle of the historical region of Volhynia which is indicated on its coat of arms with a white cross on a red background. Volhynia was completely parted after the incorporation of the east Poland into the Soviet Union in September 1939 and divided between three oblast, Volyn, Rivne, and Ternopil.

• Detailed map of Rivne Oblast

• Subdivisions of Rivne Oblast

Points of interest

The following historic-cultural sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.

• Ostroh Castle
• Troitsk monastery (Korec)
• Dubno Castle

Nomenclature

Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (Ukrainian: обласний центр, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city: Rivne is the center of the Rivnens’ka oblast’ (Rivne Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Rivne Oblast, Rivnenshchyna.