Kharkiv

Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine. Located in the northeast of the country, it is the largest city of the historic region of Sloboda Ukraine. Kharkiv is the administrative centre of Kharkiv Oblast and of the surrounding Kharkiv Raion. It has a population of 1,421,125.Kharkiv was founded in 1654 as a fortress, and grew to become a major centre of industry, trade, and Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. At the beginning of the 20th century, the city was predominantly Russian in population, but as industrial expansion drew in further labor from the distressed countryside, and as the Soviet Union moderated previous restrictions on Ukrainian cultural expression, Ukrainians became the largest ethnic group in the city by the eve of World War II. From December 1919 to January 1934, Kharkiv was the first capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.