Okruhas of Ukraine

Okruhas of the Ukrainian SSR
Map of the okruhas in 1929—1930.
Category	Subdivision of a unitary state
Location	Ukrainian SSR
Created	1918-1930
Number	40 (53 initially) (as of 1930)
Subdivisions	raions (districts)

Okruha (Ukrainian: Окру́га) refers to the historical administrative divisions of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic that existed between 1923 and 1930. The system was intended as a transitional system between the Russian Imperial division of governorates and the modern equivalent of oblasts.

As a literal translation, the word "okruha" means vicinity or neighborhood (sharing a root with the words "circle" and "around"). This level of subdivision is roughly equivalent to that of a county, parish, or borough. Okruhas were first established in 1918 when the Polissya Okruha and Taurida Okruha were created as temporary territories of the Ukrainian State during the Russian Revolution.

First okruhas, created just before 1918, were Polissya Okruha centered in Mozyr and Taurida Okruha centered in Berdyansk. Okruhas were first introduced on a widespread scale on April 12, 1923 at the 2nd session of the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine which accepted the declaration "About the administrative-territorial division of Ukraine". According to the declaration, the Ukrainian SSR was divided into 53 okruhas that included 706 raions, thus replacing the imperial division consisting of 102 povits (counties) that included 1989 volosts.

On August 5, 1930, the "News of Central Executive Committee of Ukraine" reported that on August 3, 1930, there was a session of the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine Presidium chaired by Grigoriy Petrovsky where a report by Mykola Vasylenko on the liquidation of the system of okruhas was discussed. In the adopted resolution, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine generally approved and endorsed the submitted projects from the government commission.

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