Regions of Ukraine

Ukraine is divided into several levels of territorial entities. On the first level there are 27 regions:24 oblasts, one autonomous republic, and two "cities with special status". Since the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in March 2014, Ukraine's control of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol is disputed.

The administrative division in Ukraine was directly inherited (grandfathered) from the local republican administration of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and has not changed significantly since the middle of the 20th century. It is somewhat complex as beside having several levels of a territorial subdivision, it also has a classification for various populated places, particularly cities.

According to the Article 133 of Constitution of Ukraine, "the system of the administrative and territorial structure of Ukraine is composed of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, oblasts, districts, cities, districts in city, settlements, and villages." Note, that although certain types of subdivision are not mentioned in Constitution of Ukraine (i.e. rural settlements), they are mentioned for regional composition. Also, for disambiguation regular raions (districts) are sometimes denoted as rural to distinguish them from raions in city.

Ukraine's administrative divisions are divided as follows:

Regions, cities, districts are governed by a state administration, a chief of which is appointed by the president after a nomination by the cabinet of ministers. Crimea has its own cabinet of ministers, however the state administration is represented by the office of the Presidential Representative of Ukraine. A basic and the lowest level of administrative division is a settlement that is governed by a local council (rada). Cities as a settlement always carry a special status within a region and have their own form of self-administration (municipality – vykonkom) and some may consist of their own city's districts (raions). City municipalities are governed by a mayor and a city council (miskrada). Some smaller cities, towns, and rural localities may be under control of city municipalities based on larger cities. Towns as well as villages are not controlled by state administration and are self-governed by either a town council (selyshchna rada) or a village council (silrada) within the limits of the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine (article 140 of the Constitution of Ukraine). Village councils may carry a combined jurisdiction which may include several villages and hamlets (selyshche). Unlike villages, each town council always has a separate jurisdiction which may be part of bigger city's council. Hamlet (selyshche) is a non-governed rural locality and is governed by a village council of nearby village.

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