Velyka Novosilka Raion

Velyka Novosilka Raion (Ukrainian: Великоновосілківський район) was one of the raions (districts) of Donetsk Oblast, southeastern Ukraine, from 1923 to 2020. The administrative center of the raion was the urban-type settlement of Velyka Novosilka. The last estimate of the raion population was 37,144 (2020 est.).^[1]

Velykonovosilkivskyi Raion Великоновосілківський район
Raion
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 47°50′28.3″N 36°50′8.2″E
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Donetsk Oblast
Established	1923
Disestablished	18 July 2020
Admin. center	Velyka Novosilka
Subdivisions	List   0 — city councils   1 — settlement councils 61 — rural councils Number of localities:   0 — cities   1 — urban-type settlements 51 — villages   15 — rural settlements
Government
• Governor	Sergiy Dmitriev
Area
• Total	1,900 km2 (700 sq mi)
Population  (2020)
• Total	37,144
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Postal index	85500-84583
Area code	+380 6243

History

In 1932, it was included in the newly created Donetsk Oblast. At the time, it was referred to as a national raion for ethnic Greeks in Ukraine. Previously, it had been part of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.^[2]

On 15 May 2014 (during the early phase of the War in Donbas) the Donbas Battalion secured the district from pro-Russian separatists loyal to the Donetsk People's Republic.^[3] According to (the then commander the Donbas Battalion) Semen Semenchenko the local police chief, deputies from the Party of Regions and the chairman of the district council "fled in an unknown direction."^[3]

The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Donetsk Oblast to eight, of which only five were controlled by the government.^[4][5]

Demographics

According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census,^[6]

Ethnicity
Ukrainians	31,850	64.6%
Greeks	9,730	19.7%
Russians	6,568	13.3%
Belarusians	240	0.5%
Turks	168	0.3%

References

1. Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2020 року / Population of Ukraine Number of Existing as of January 1, 2020 (PDF) (in Ukrainian and English). Kyiv: State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2023.
2. ЗЗРРСУУ/1932/22-23/Про утворення Донецької области  (in Ukrainian) – via Wikisource.
3. (in Ukrainian) Velyka Novosilka Raion Donetsk liberated from terrorists and flag DNR, TSN (15 May 2014)
4. "Про утворення та ліквідацію районів. Постанова Верховної Ради України № 807-ІХ". Голос України (in Ukrainian). 2020-07-18. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
5. "Нові райони: карти + склад" (in Ukrainian). Міністерство розвитку громад та територій України.
6. Національний склад та рідна мова населення Донецької області [Ethnic and linguistic composition of Donetsk Oblast] (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 7 February 2012.