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Vovchansk had a population of 17,459 (2022 estimate).[4] However, that dropped to about 300 by May 2024,[5] as the city was largely destroyed during the 2024 Kharkiv offensive.[6][7] By January 2025, Vovchansk was reported to be completely destroyed with zero permanent inhabitants. [8]
History
Vovchansk was first settled in 1674 under the Tsardom of Russia, when a territory of Belgorod Monastery was provided to Ukrainian migrants from Dnieper Ukraine led by Martyn Starochudny.[9] The settlement was named as Vovche and designated as a guarding settlement.[9]
Map of Vovchansk in 1787
Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, which was detonated in 1937 with the direct participation of Pavel Postyshev
In April 1780, it was officially renamed to "Vovchansk", and became an administrative centre of Volchansk uyezd in the Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire. The year 1780 is considered by the Verkhovna Rada as the official year of the city establishment.[10] Between 1674 and 1780 a lot of changes took place and the borders of the Russian Empire moved away from the settlement.[citation needed]
In 1896, a Belgorod – Donbas railroad was installed through the town.[9] Moreover, a local newspaper has been published here since February 1918.[11]
On 12 April 1923, an administrative-territorial reform was carried out in the Ukrainian SSR. Vovchansk district was divided into 8 districts: Bilyi Kolodiaz, Velytkyi Burluk, Vovchansk, Zhovtneve, Pechenihy, Rubizhne, Khotimlia, and Shypuvate.[12] In 1923, as part of the administrative reform, it became a district center. As of January 1, 1924, the population of Vovchansk district was 27,329 people. The town suffered as a result of the genocide of the Ukrainian people committed by the USSR government in 1932-1933; the number of identified victims in Vovchansk, Zavody Pershi, Zavody Druhi, Chapliivka, and Herhelivka was 1,789 people.
In 1964, the construction of two reinforced concrete bridges over the Vovcha River on Lenin and Gagarin streets was completed and the district House of Culture was built. In 1966, the city's population amounted to 20600 people. In 1979, Vovchansk had a carriage factory, a building materials factory, an asphalt plant, an oil extraction plant, a bread factory, a butter factory, a shoe factory, a cotton factory, a furniture factory, a meat processing plant, a bakery, and a district agricultural machinery, a consumer services plant, 8 a medical school, an aviation school, a technical school of agricultural mechanization, three medical institutions, a House of Culture, six clubs, a cinema, and 14 libraries.[citation needed]
The economic crisis that began in 2008 hit the local industry. A dairy factory that was built here during the time of the Soviet Union[13] stopped work, and by December 2009, it ceased to exist.[14]
The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kharkiv Oblast to seven. The area of Vovchansk Raion was merged into Chuhuiv Raion.[15][16]
Until 18 July 2020, Vovchansk was the administrative center of Vovchansk Raion.
On 10 May 2024, Russian forces launched a new offensive near Vovchansk, with the speculated goal of establishing a buffer zone at least 10 kilometres from the Russian border, according to a Ukrainian military source. Vovchansk became a focal point of the offensive, with the city seeing heavily increased bombardment.[18]
On 12 May, Russian forces entered northern Vovchansk and established a foothold in the city by seizing the Vovchansk Meat Processing Plant, with unverified reports claiming that the Russians had also seized the local shoe factory by the morning of 13 May and penetrated as far as the northern bank of the Vovcha River by that same evening.[19] Geolocated footage on May 14 confirmed that Russian forces were continuing to advance through the northwestern and northeastern parts of the city.[20]
On May 15, a speaker of the Ukrainian military stated that troops were withdrawn from the Lukiantsi and Vovchansk areas to "preserve the lives of our servicemen and avoid losses" and move to "more advantageous positions", and that the situation "remains difficult".[21]
By late May 2024, Vovchansk was largely destroyed.[6] About 300 citizens remained there of a pre-war population of around 17,000.[5]
As of the 2001 Ukrainian census, the town had a population of 20,484 inhabitants. Over 80% of the population were Ukrainians, ethnic Russians were the second largest group, followed by Armenians. In terms of spoken languages, 82% of the city's inhabitants declared Ukrainian as their first language, while roughly 16% considered Russian as their native tongue. The exact ethnic and linguistic composition was:[23][24]
^Varenikova, Maria (14 June 2024). "Where Ukraine Stalled Russia, One Town Has Paid the Price: Little Left of Vovchansk, a City Near the Border that was a Tourist Hub". The New York Times. p. A4.
^Grace Mappes; Nicole Wolkov; Karolina Hird; Frederick W. Kagan (2024-05-13). ""Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 13 2024"". understandingwar.org. Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 2024-05-13. Geolocated footage published on May 12 shows that Russian forces seized the Vovchansk Meat Processing Plant in northern Vovchansk, and Russian milbloggers claimed that Russian forces also captured a shoe factory in northern Vovchansk on the morning of May 13 and advanced into central Vovchansk up to the northern (right) bank of the Vovcha River by the evening.
^Karolina Hird; Angelica Evans; Nicole Wolkov; Grace Mappes; Frederick W. Kagan (2024-05-14). ""Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 14 2024"". understandingwar.org. Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 2024-05-14. Several Russian and Ukrainian sources also reported that Russian forces are using new tactics in this direction — using smaller assault groups of no more than five people to penetrate Ukrainian positions before merging with other small assault groups to unite into a larger strike group.
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