Administrative-territorial composition of Ukraine

Ukraine is a unitary state. This means that governance of the country is carried out from one center, the capital; a single Constitution is in force for the entire territory of the country; there is a single system of the highest bodies of authority and there is a single legal framework. However, each of the administrative-territorial units has its governing bodies within a given authority.

The territory of Ukraine is divided into the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and 24 regions (oblast): Vinnytsya, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattya, Zaporizhya, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Luhansk, Lviv, Mykolayiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytsk, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi and Chernihiv regions. They are the largest administrative-territorial units. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea has significant independence in resolving local issues, with its own Constitution, Verkhovna Rada and Council of Ministers. Two cities with separate status are equal to regions – Kyiv (as the capital of Ukraine) and Sevastopol (as the location of the Ukrainian and Russian navies).

Regions and cities of local subordination (republican subordination in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea) form the middle level in the administrative-territorial division of Ukraine. Ukraine’s largest cities are Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Odesa, Zaporizhya and Lviv. Towns of local significance, urban-type settlements and villages are on the lowest level in the administrative-territorial system. Such inhabited localities have their own local governing bodies: city, settlement or village councils, and the latter can cover one or several villages.