Kiliia

{{short description|City in Odesa Oblast, Ukraine}} {{other uses|Kilia (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox settlement | official_name = Kiliia | native_name = {{lang|uk|Кілія}} | settlement_type = City | image_skyline = File:Старовинна вулиця.jpg | image_caption = Old street with the view at the St. Nicholas Church | image_flag = | image_shield = Kilia.png | shield_size = 90px | pushpin_map = Ukraine Odesa Oblast#Ukraine | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Ukraine | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{UKR}} | subdivision_type1 = Oblast | subdivision_name1 = Odesa Oblast | subdivision_type2 = Raion | subdivision_name2 = Izmail Raion | subdivision_type3 = Hromada | subdivision_name3 = Kiliia urban hromada | leader_title = Mayor | leader_name = Pavlo Boychenko | established_title = City founded | established_date = 862 | elevation_m = 5 | area_total_km2 = 19.5 | population_as_of = 2022 | population_total = 18745 | population_density_km2 = auto | population_footnotes = | timezone = EET | utc_offset = +2 | timezone_DST = EEST | utc_offset_DST = +3 | coordinates = {{coord|45|27|N|29|14|E|region:UA|display=inline}} | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = 68300 - 68303 | area_code = +380 4843 | website = | footnotes = | name = }} '''Kiliia''', '''Kiliya''' or '''Kilia''' ({{langx|uk|Кілія}}, {{IPA|uk|kil⁽ʲ⁾iˈjɑ|IPA|audio=LL-Q8798 (ukr)-Gzhegozh-Кілія.wav}}; {{langx|ru|Килия}}; {{langx|ro|Chilia Nouă}}) is a city in Izmail Raion, Odesa Oblast, southwestern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Kiliia urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine.<ref name="admreform_2020_kiliia">{{cite web |title=Килийская громада |url=https://gromada.info/ru/obschina/kiliyska/ |publisher=Портал об'єднаних громад України |language=ru}}</ref> Kiliia is located in the Danube Delta, in the historic Bessarabian district of Budjak; across the river lies the town of Chilia Veche (Old Kiliia) in Romania. The Chilia branch of the Danube river, which separates Ukraine from Romania, is named after it. Population: {{Ua-pop-est2022|18,745|punct=.}}

== History ==

{{Quote box |width=24em |align=left |bgcolor=#ffe066 |title=Historical affiliations |fontsize=85% |quote=<poem> {{flagicon|Byzantine Empire}} Byzantine Empire until 1361 From 1361 until 1412 contested between Kingdom of Hungary, Wallachia, Poland, the Republic of Genoa and the Ottoman Empire {{flagicon|Moldavia}} Principality of Moldavia 1412–1448 {{flagicon|Kingdom of Hungary}} Kingdom of Hungary 1448–1465 {{flagicon|Moldavia}} Principality of Moldavia 1465–1484 {{flag|Ottoman Empire}} 1484–1812 {{flag|Russian Empire}} 1812–1856 {{flag|Ottoman Empire}} 1856–1878 {{flag|Russian Empire}} 1878–1917 {{flag|Moldavian Democratic Republic}} 1917–1918 {{flag|Kingdom of Romania}} 1918–1940 {{flag|Soviet Union|1936}} 1940–1941 {{flag|Kingdom of Romania}} 1941–1944 {{flag|Soviet Union}} 1944–1991 {{flag|Ukraine}} 1991–present</poem> }}

A town on the Romanian side of the Chilia branch of the Danube, now known as ''Chilia Veche'' or "Old Chilia", was founded by the Greek Byzantines – κελλία, ''kellia'' in Greek being the equivalent of "granaries", a name first recorded in 1241, in the works of the Persian chronicler Rashid-al-Din Hamadani. Kiliia is therefore sometimes referred to as ''Nova Kiliia'' meaning "New Kiliia".

In the place that is now Kiliia, a large colony was established by the Republic of Genoa, known as "Licostomo" and headed by a consul (a representative of the Republic in the region). From that time, only the defensive ditches of a Genoese fortress remained.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-02-05|title=Генуэзские колонии в Одесской области - Бизнес-портал Измаила|url=http://izm-biz.info/genuezskie-kolonii-v-odesskoj-oblasti/|access-date=2020-11-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205001115/http://izm-biz.info/genuezskie-kolonii-v-odesskoj-oblasti/|archive-date=2018-02-05}}</ref>

The city was founded by Stephen the Great of Moldavia, in order to counteract the Ottoman Empire which had taken control over Chilia Veche in the 15th century. It was a major Moldavian port. However, it was eventually conquered by the Ottomans in 1484. In 1570 (Hijri 977) the town of Kilia was inhabited by Muslims and Christians. It had 298 Muslim households in 13 neighbourhoods and 316 Christian households in 5 neighbourhoods and it was a "has" of the Sultan, a land property that was directly owned by the Sultan. One of the Muslim neighbourhoods was recorded as a Circassian neighbourhood.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=GÖKBİLGİN |first=M. TAYYİB |date=1956 |title=KANUNÎ SULTAN SÜLEYMAN DEVRİ BAŞLARINDA RUMELİ EYALETİ, LİVALARI, ŞEHİR VE KASABALARI |url=https://belleten.gov.tr/tam-metin-pdf/1214/tur |journal=Belleten |volume=20 |issue=78 |pages=247–294 |issn=0041-4255 |eissn=2791-6472 }}</ref> Kiliia was taken by the Russian army under the command of the general Ivan Gudovich during Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). The ''Times'' of London reported that "35,000 of the inhabitants were involved in a general massacre," an incident that had "been celebrated in prose and poetry." <ref>[http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1853-12-29-08-004&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1853-12-29-08 "The Seat of War on the Danube," ''The Times,'' December 29, page 8]{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The city was given back to the Ottomans in 1792, but retaken by the Russians in 1806 and awarded to them officially in 1812. thumb|left|Kiliya in the 15th century After being bombarded by the Anglo-French fleet in July 1854 during the Crimean War, it was given to Romania in the Treaty of Paris (1856).<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Kilia|volume=15|page=792}}</ref> In 1878 (Congress of Berlin), Kiliia was transferred back to Russia together with Budjak. Between 1918 and 1940 (Interwar period, Greater Romania) it was again part of Romania. In July 1940, after a Soviet ultimatum, Romania agreed to give up Bessarabia and northern Bukovina; the Soviet Union occupied it and came to the Ukrainian SSR (it was held yet again by Romania, from 1941 to 1944, in World War II, time during which it was the capital of the Chilia County), and passed on to independent Ukraine after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Jews were deported to Transnistria (the area between the Dniester and Bug rivers) by the Romanian authorities in 1941, where a large majority of the 316 deported Jews died.<ref>See Radu Ioanid, The Holocaust in Romania: The Destruction of the Jews and Gypsies Under the Antonescu Regime (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000), p. 129, 131-132 (where the number of 316 Jews appears), 199, 201.</ref> According to the Yad Vashem website, 199 Jews who had lived before the war in Kiliia whose names are listed died in Ukraine.<ref>The number and list of Jews who had lived in Kilia before the war who died in Odessa, at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center (in Israel), at https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/names/search-results?page=1&s_place_permanent_search_en=Kilia&t_place_permanent_search_en=yvSynonym&s_place_death_search_en=Ukraine&t_place_death_search_en=yvSynonym .</ref>

The oldest building in Kiliia is the semi-subterranean church of St. Nicholas, which may go back to 1485, although an old inscription in the church claims that it was founded on 10 May 1647.

Until 18 July 2020, Kiliia was the administrative center of Kiliia Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Odesa Oblast to seven. The area of Kiliia Raion was merged into Izmail Raion.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Про утворення та ліквідацію районів. Постанова Верховної Ради України № 807-ІХ.|url=http://www.golos.com.ua/article/333466|access-date=2020-10-03|date=2020-07-18|website=Голос України|language=uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Нові райони: карти + склад |url=https://www.minregion.gov.ua/press/news/novi-rajony-karty-sklad/ |publisher=Міністерство розвитку громад та територій України |language=Ukrainian}}</ref>

==Demographics== As of the 2001 Ukrainian census, Ukrainians constitute the majority of the town's population. Russians, Moldovans and Bulgarians form significant minorities.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://datatowel.in.ua/pop-composition/ethnic-cities | title=Національний склад міст }}</ref> {{bar box|title=Ethnic groups in Kiliia|titlebar=#ddd|left1=|right1=percent|bars={{bar percent|Ukrainians|dodgerblue|55.41}} {{bar percent|Russians|purple|28.41}} {{bar percent|Moldovans|pink|9.67}} {{bar percent|Bulgarians|turquoise|3.63}} {{bar percent|Gagauz|lightgreen|0.91}} {{bar percent|Belarusians|red|0.51}} {{bar percent|Jews|black|0.16}} {{bar percent|Armenians|brown|0.07}} {{bar percent|Georgians|green|0.05}}}}

In 2001, 55.5% of the inhabitants spoke Russian as their native language, while 39.56% spoke Ukrainian and 2.93% of the inhabitants spoke Romanian.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://socialdata.org.ua/projects/mova-2001/ | title=Рідні мови в об'єднаних територіальних громадах України }}</ref>

==Notable people== *Emilian Bucov (1909–1984), Soviet Moldovan writer and poet *Vadym Prystaiko (born 1970), Ukrainian diplomat *Oleksandr Dubovoy (born 1976), Ukrainian politician (Batkivshchyna) *Ihor Nesterenko (born 1990), Israeli-Ukrainian basketball player in the Israel Basketball Premier League

==Gallery== <gallery> File:Собор вночі.jpg|Intercession of the Theotokos Church File:В современности.jpg|St. Nicholas Church File:Покровська (старообрядницька) церква - купол, Кілія.JPG|Skyline of Kiliia from one of the churches File:Kherson-28102009(093).jpg|Tombstone in Kherson of soldier fallen in the siege of Kiliia File:Stamp of Moldova 207.gif|Kiliia Fortress </gallery>

== References == {{More footnotes needed|date=December 2024}} {{reflist}}

{{Odesa Oblast}} {{Izmail Raion}} {{Danube}} {{Authority control}}

{{coord|45|27|N|29|16|E|display=title|region:UA_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki}}

Category:Castles in Ukraine Category:Castles in Moldavia Category:Territories of the Republic of Genoa Category:Populated places on the Danube Category:Romania–Ukraine border crossings Category:Port cities and towns in Ukraine Category:Port cities and towns of the Black Sea Category:Cities of district significance in Ukraine Category:Ismail County Category:Chilia County Category:Izmailsky Uyezd Category:Cities in Izmail Raion Category:Populated places in Kiliia urban hromada *