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Vinnytsia Вінниця
City
From top, left to right: Saint Nicholas Church Vinnytsia water tower Transfiguration Cathedral Resurrection Church Trams in Vinnytsia Jesuit Monastery
Flag Coat of arms
Nickname:  Pearl of Podilia
Vinnytsia Show map of Vinnytsia Oblast Vinnytsia Show map of Ukraine
Coordinates: 49°14′N 28°29′E / 49.233°N 28.483°E / 49.233; 28.483
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Vinnytsia Oblast
Raion	Vinnytsia Raion
Hromada	Vinnytsia urban hromada
Founded	1363
Government
• Mayor	Serhiy Morhunov [uk][1] (Ukrainian Strategy of Groysman[2])
Area
• City	113.2 km2 (43.7 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[3]
• City	369,739
• Density	3,290/km2 (8,500/sq mi)
• Metro	660,000
Time zones	UTC+2
	UTC+3
Postal code	21000-
Area code	+380 432
Sister cities	Birmingham, Kielce, Peterborough, Bursa, Panevėžys, Bat Yam, Karlsruhe, Nancy
Website	vmr.gov.ua/en

Vinnytsia (/ˈvɪnɪts(j)ə, ˈviːn-/ VIN-it-s(y)ə, VEEN-; Ukrainian: Вінниця, IPA: [ˈwinːɪtsʲɐ] ^ⓘ) is a city in West Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It serves as the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast. It is the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. It also serves as the administrative center of Vinnytsia Raion, one of the six raions of Vinnytsia Oblast. It has a population of 369,739 (2022 estimate).^[3]

The city's roots date back to the Middle Ages. It was under Lithuanian and Polish control for centuries. From 1653 to 1667, Vinnytsia was a regimental city of the Hetman state, and in 1793, it was ceded to the Russian Empire. During the 1930s and early 1940s, the city was the site of massacres, first during Stalin's purges and then during the Holocaust in Ukraine and the Nazi occupation. A Cold War–era airbase was located near the city. Currently, Vinnytsia is developing as one of the most comfortable cities for life in independent Ukraine.^[4]

Name

The name of Vinnytsia appeared for the first time in 1363. It is assumed that the name is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "*věno" (вѣно), meaning "a bride price." This name can be explained by the fact that Vinnytsia and the surrounding land were captured by Lithuanian Duke Algirdas in the 14th century, and then, they were given to his nephews.^[5]

In addition to the Ukrainian Вінниця (Vinnytsia), in other languages of the region, the name of the city is Russian: Винница, romanized: Vinnitsa, Polish: Winnica, Lithuanian: Vinica, German: Winniza, Romanian: Vinița and Yiddish: וויניצע, romanized: Vinitse. English sources used the Russian-derived Vinnitsa from the early 19th century until the 1990s and Winnica or Winnicza (from Polish) before that, reflecting the ultimate political authorities of those respective eras.

Geography

Location

Vinnytsia is located about 260 km (160 mi) southwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, 429 km (267 mi) north-northwest of the Black Sea port city of Odesa, and 369 km (229 mi) east of Lviv.

It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast (province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Vinnytsia Raion within the oblast. The city itself is directly subordinated to the oblast.

Climate

The city has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb).^[6][7]

A long-lasting warm summer with a sufficient quantity of moisture and a comparatively short winter is characteristic of Vinnytsia. The average temperature in January is −5.8 °C (21.6 °F) and 18.3 °C (64.9 °F) in July. The average annual precipitation is 638 mm (25 in).

Over the course of a year there are around 6–9 days when snowstorms occur, 37–60 days when mists occur during the cold period, and 3–5 days when thunderstorms with hail occur.