The sights of the Khmelnytskyi.

Khmelnytskyi (Ukrainian: Хмельни́цький, romanized: Chmełnyċkyj, pronounced [xmelʲˈnɪtsʲkɪj];Polish: Chmielnicki), until 1954 Proskuriv (Ukrainian: Проску́рів [proˈskur⁽ʲ⁾iu̯]; Polish: Płoskirów), is a city in western part of Ukraine, the administrative center for the Khmelnytskyi Oblast (region) and the Khmelnytskyi Raion (district). Khmelnytskyi is located in the historic region of Podolia on the banks of the Buh River. The city received its current local government designation in 1941.

In 2015, the city's population was 267,973, making it the second largest city of the former, archaic Podolia region after Vinnytsia and the largest city of the western part of the region.

History

The city foundation date is uncertain. The territory, where Khmelnytskyi is situated, has been inhabited for a very long time. Many archaeological discoveries have been discovered in the city suburbs. For example, to the East of Lezneve district, there was a settlement from the Bronze Age 2000 B.C., and from Scythian times from 7-3 century B.C. The first mention of the city was written with Cyrillic alphabet. From 1431 it was known as Płoskirów (Ploskirov, Плоскиров) and was part of the Kingdom of Poland. It was a royal city. After the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, the city was annexed by the Russian Empire and was renamed Proskurov (Проскурoв). According to the Russian census of 1897, Proskurov with a population of 22,855 was the fifth largest city of Podolia after Kamianets-Podilskyi, Uman, Vinnytsia and Balta. In 1920 it became part of Soviet Ukraine. In 1954 the city was finally renamed Khmelnytskyi (Хмельницький) in the honor of the 300th anniversary of a treaty negotiated by Bohdan Khmelnytsky.