Place:Mykolaiv, Mykolaiv, Ukraine

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Mykolaiv, also known as Nikolaev, is a city and municipality in southern Ukraine, the administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is located on the Southern Bug with access to the Black Sea and is one of the main shipbuilding centers of the Black Sea. Aside from three shipyards within the city, there are a number of research centers specializing in shipbuilding such as the State Research and Design Shipbuilding Center, Zoria-Mashproekt and others. The city has a population of

The city is an important transportation hub of Ukraine (sea port, commercial port, river port, highway and railway junction, airport).

Mykolaiv's orderly layout reflects the fact that its development has been well planned from the founding of the city. Its main streets, including the three main east–west Avenues, are very wide and tree-lined. Much of Mykolaiv's land area consists of parks. Park Peremohy (Victory) is a large park on the peninsula just north of the city center of Mykolaiv, on the north side of the Inhul river.

History

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Archaeologists have found proof of ancient settlements on the territory of Mykolaiv. In 2018, archaeologists discovered a sunken Ancient Greek ship near the Mykolaiv region - it dated from the 5th century BC, the period of Greek colonization of the Northern Black Sea. Researchers stated: "This Ancient Greek ship is one of the oldest known in the Northern Black Sea."

The city has long had close associations with shipbuilding. The town was founded in 1789 by the Russian Governor General of Novorossiya, Prince Grigory Potemkin, initially as a shipyard called simply a New Shipyard on the Ingul river. Prince Potemkin signed an order to construct a shipyard on 27 August 1789, which is considered to be the city's birth date. The shipyard was intended to undertake the repair of naval ships in the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792. Later, Potemkin ordered the shipyard to be named Nikolaev to commemorate the date when Ochakov fell to the Russian troops under his command on 6 December 1788, the feast day of Saint Nicholas (Nikolai) in the Russian Orthodox Church calendar.

The Russian Empire's Black Sea Navy Headquarters was in Mykolaiv for more than 100 years until the Imperial Russian Navy moved it to Sevastopol, near the southern tip of the Crimean Peninsula. During the Crimean War (1853-1856), Mykolaiv became the main rear base to support Russia's efforts in the war. Most businesses that were created in the city belonged to the military-industrial complex, and, consequently, Mykolaiv was closed to foreigners for many decades.

In March 1816, Admiral Aleksey Greig was appointed Governor of the city. While in that post until 1833, he did much for Mykolaiv. Port facilities were built. A credit society (cooperative) was established, and Mykolaiv increased its seaborne trade. Morskoii (Marine) Boulevard was built in the city, along with sidewalks. In addition, open men's and women's colleges were built, as was a shelter. In 1820, Admiral Greig founded the Marine Astronomical Observatory in Mykolaiv. In 1826 he established the Russian Navy's first headquarters in Nikolayev. It was the location for fleet combat-training and war planning.

From 1860 to 1871, the military Governor of Mykolaiv was . His highest command in the town was in 1862. He encouraged foreign vessels to call at the commercial port and encouraged foreigners to settle in Mykolaiv. As a result, foreign governments established consulates there. This led to the transformation of Mykolaiv into a large commercial port.

By the late 19th century, Mykolaiv's port ranked third in the Russian Empire (after Saint Petersburg and Odessa) in trade with foreign countries. Grain-export suppliers of the steppe region (of Ukraine and Southern Russia) were the greatest in the Russian Empire. Mykolaiv had become a great industrial center in the Southern Ukraine.^[1]

Mykolaiv was a major Jewish centre of the Russian Empire in the 19th century. In the 19th century, the Czarist governments largely banned Jews from living east of the Dnieper River. Mykolaiv is in the area west of the Dnieper, which was where Jews were legally allowed to reside (the Pale of Settlement). The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the seventh leader in the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty) was born in Mykolaiv on 18 April 1902.

In 1918, Mykolaiv was occupied by foreign troops. In 1920, Soviet power was established.^[1]

In the course of Operation Barbarossa Mykolaiv was occupied on 16 August 1941. In September, German forces massacred over 35,000 non-combatants, many of them Jews, in the city and its region. During the occupation, an underground partisan sabotage group, the Mykolaiv Center, conducted guerilla activities. On 28 March 1944 the city was liberated, in part because of Soviet Senior Lieutenant Konstantin F. Olshansky's paratroopers and their daring raid during which the majority of his troops were killed.

In the post-war period Mykolaiv became one of the shipbuilding centers of the USSR, with three shipyards: Black Sea, 61 Kommunara, and Okean.

The asteroid 8141 Nikolaev (1982 SO4) was discovered in 1982 by Nikolai Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory and was named in honor of the city.

In March 2012, Mykolaiv gained international notoriety for lawlessness and police corruption following the rape and murder of Oksana Makar. Her three attackers were apprehended, but two were released because of family connections to local government officials. After a media outcry and public protests, all three attackers were charged with her murder.

During the Euromaidan protests of 2013-1014, Mykolayiv was the scene of anti-Yanukovich protests. After the victory of Euromaidan, the situation calmed down somewhat until 7 April 2014, when some pro-Russians tried to take over the local administration building. Pro-Ukrainians stopped them from taking over the administration building and destroyed the pro-Russian camp not far from it, after which the situation in the city became calm.

In February and March 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian military forces attacked Mykolaiv and placed it under siege. Ukrainian forces barred Russian forces from the city, though Russian artillery continued to shell it.

Three people were killed and six injured when a community in the Mykolaiv region came under fire early Tuesday morning, the mayor of Mykolaiv has said. (June 28 2022)

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