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Donetsk Oblast

Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna, is an oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its administrative centre is Donetsk, though due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, the regional administration was moved to Kramatorsk. Historically, the region has been an important part of the Donbas region. From its creation in 1938 until November 1961, it bore the name Stalino Oblast, in honour of Joseph Stalin. As part of the de-Stalinization process, it was renamed after the Siversky Donets river, the main artery of Eastern Ukraine. Its population is estimated at

The oblast is known for its urban sprawl of Donetsk–Makiivka and Horlivka–Yenakiieve and it is often associated with the coal mining industry.

In 2014, parts of the oblast, including Donetsk, came under the control of Russian-backed separatists who declared the Donetsk People's Republic, leading to a war against government forces; the de facto administrative center was subsequently moved to Mariupol and then Kramatorsk. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the oblast again became the site of heavy fighting, and Russia later declared the annexation of the entirety of the oblast as well as three other regions, though the annexation remains internationally unrecognized, and only about half of the oblast is under Russian military occupation.

History
Donetsk Oblast is located within the historic regions of Zaporizhzhia (western and central part), Sloboda Ukraine (northern part) and Pryazovia (southern part). In the mid-18th-century, the north-eastern outskirts formed part of Slavo-Serbia with its capital in Bakhmut.

Before the establishment of the Donetsk Oblast, three districts (okruhas) existed on its territory from 1923 to 1930. The Donets Governorate was terminated in 1925. As part of Soviet Ukraine, the Donetsk Oblast was established on 2 July 1932 out of the Kharkiv Oblast, the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, and a number of raions that were under the direct administration of Kharkiv (then-capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic). Artemivsk (today Bakhmut) served as the oblast's administrative center for two weeks until 16 July 1932, when the city of Stalino (today Donetsk) took on the role. Until 1938, the Donetsian Oblast included the territories of the modern Donetsk Oblast and the Luhansk Oblast. In June 1938 it was split into the Stalino Oblast (modern Donetsk Oblast) and the Voroshylovhrad Oblast (modern Luhansk Oblast).

During the Nazi German occupation from fall 1941 to fall 1943, Donetsk Oblast was known as Yuzivka Oblast (after the original name of Donetsk). During World War II, it was the site of several war crimes, including the German-perpetrated Artemivsk massacre and Soviet-perpetrated Massacre of Grischino.

As part of de-Stalinization in the Soviet Union, in 1961 Stalino and Stalino Oblast were renamed Donetsk and Donetsk Oblast.

During the dissolution of the Soviet Union, 83.9% of voters in Donetsk Oblast approved Ukraine's declaration of independence in the 1991 referendum.

In the mid-1990s, the region became known for its heightened criminal activity, including the killings of high-profile business people such as Akhat Bragin and Yevhen Shcherban. Donetsk Oblast was also a base for Ukraine's main pro-Russian political faction, Party of Regions, which became part of the Ukrainian government in 2002 and paved a way into Ukrainian politics for the powerful "Donetsk Clan".

In late 2004, the Party of Regions was involved in the creation of a political project, the South-East Ukrainian Autonomous Republic, which was intended to include Donetsk Oblast. Having close ties with the Russian government, the Party of Regions, along with local communists and other pro-Russian activists, instigated the pro-Russian unrest which escalated into the war in Donbas. In May 2014, the Ukrainian government lost control over its border with Russia in the Donetsk Oblast. Currently, the eastern part of the oblast is occupied by Russia.

On 30 September 2022 Russia annexed the Donetsk (DPR), Luhansk (Luhansk People's Republic), Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson Oblasts. The United Nations General Assembly subsequently passed a resolution calling on countries not to recognise what it described as an "attempted illegal annexation", demanded that Russia "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw" and most nations of the world have not recognized the annexations. As of the end of 2022, the oblast is divided roughly equally between the opposing sides.

Geography
Donetsk Oblast is located in southeastern Ukraine. The area of the oblast (26,517 km2) comprises about 4.4% of the total area of the country. The oblast borders the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts to the southwest, the Kharkiv Oblast to the north, the Luhansk Oblast to the northeast, the Rostov Oblast in Russia to the east, and the Sea of Azov to the south.

Its extent from north to south is 270 km, from east to west – 190 km. The extreme points of the oblast's borders are: Bilosarayska Kosa (spit) in the south, Shevchenko of Velykonovosilkivskyi Raion in the west, Verkhnyi Kut of Shakhtarskyi Raion in the east, and Lozove of Lyman Raion in the north.

The state historic-architectural site near the city of Sviatohirsk with the Sviatohirsk Lavra was nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.

Administrative divisions
Since 2020, Donetsk Oblast has been divided into eight raions (districts), each named after its administrative center:

Each raion is in turn divided up into hromadas.

Demographics
In 2013, the population of Donetsk Oblast was 4.43 million, which constituted 10% of the overall Ukrainian population, making it the most populous and most densely populated region of the country, except for the cities with special status (Kyiv and Sevastopol). Its large population is due to the presence of several big industrial cities and numerous villages agglomerated around them.

During the 2004 presidential election, political supporters of Viktor Yanukovych threatened to demand autonomy for Donetsk and neighboring oblasts if the election of their candidate was not recognised. However, no official moves were ever made.

At the 2001 Ukrainian National Census, the ethnic groups within the Donetsk Oblast were: Ukrainians – 2,744,100 (56.9%), Russians – 1,844,400 (38.2%), Pontic Greeks – 77,500 (1.6%), Belarusians – 44,500 (0.9%), others (2.3%).

At the 2001 census, the languages spoken within the oblast were: Russian (spoken by 98.6% of Russians living there, 58.7% of Ukrainians, 58.7% of Greeks, and 85.5% of Belarusians) and Ukrainian (spoken by 41.2% of Ukrainians, 1.3% of Russians, 3.2% of Greeks, and 3.9% of Belarusians).

Age structure

 * 0–14 years: 12.6% (male 283,584/female 266,977)
 * 15–64 years: 70.4% (male 1,453,273/female 1,619,241)
 * 65 years and over: 17.0% (male 243,048/female 496,434) (2013 official)

Median age

 * total: 41.9 years
 * male: 38.0 years
 * female: 45.8 years (2013 official)

Industry
The Donetsk Oblast accounts for more than one half of the coal, finished steel, coke, cast iron and steel production in Ukraine. Ferrous metallurgy, fuel industry and power industry are in demand in the structure of industry production. There are about 882 industry enterprises that are on independent balance, and 2,095 small industry enterprises in the oblast.

The oblast has a developed transport infrastructure which includes the Donetsk railway (covers 40% of national transportation), the Mariupol Port, the Donetsk International Airport, passenger airports in Mariupol and Kramatorsk, and dense road systems. In the Donetsk Oblast two special economic zones have been created, Donetsk and Azov, which have a privileged tax regime.

Agriculture
In 1999, the gross grain yield in the oblast was about 999.1 thousand tons, sugar beets – 27.1 thousand tons, sunflower seeds – 309.4 thousand tons, and potatoes – 380.2 thousand tons. Also, 134.2 thousand tons of meat, 494.3 thousand tons of milk and 646.4 million eggs have been produced. At the beginning of 1999 there were 2108 farms within the oblast.

Geology
The Donetsk Oblast's climate is mostly continental, which is characterised by hot summers and relatively cold winters with changeable snow surfaces. East and southeast strong winds, high temperatures and heavy rain showers are typical in the summer. The average annual rainfall is 524 mm.

The basic minerals found here are: coal (reserves – 25 billion tons), rock salt, lime carbonate, potassium, mercury, asbestos, and graphite. The area is also rich in fertile black earth.

Important resources for recreation within the area are: the mild climate, the Sea of Azov coast, curative mud, sources of minerals, and radon and table water. Due to these numerous recreation resources, many resort hotels and camps are located here. There are about 26 health centres and pensions, 52 rest homes and boarding houses, and rest camps for children in the oblast.

The curative areas in the oblast include the Slovyansk salt lakes and mineral water sources. The oblast also contains many park zones, some of which are of great national value. They include the Khomutivsky steppe and the Azov sea coast. Overall, the Donetsk Oblast contains about 70 protected park and nature attractions including branches of the Ukrainian steppe park, six state reserves, ten memorials of nature, landscapes, and six park tracts.

Polls
During the 1991 referendum, 83.90% of votes in Donetsk Oblast were in favour of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, fourth lowest in the country after Crimea, Sevastopol and Luhansk Oblast. A survey conducted in December 2014 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found 18.5% of the oblast's population supported their region joining Russia, 53.8% did not support the idea, 22.5% were undecided, and 5.2% did not respond; insurgent-controlled areas (which hold over 50% of the population) were not polled.

title: Donetsk Oblast


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Jörg Immendorff

Jörg Immendorff (14 June 1945 – 28 May 2007) was a German painter, sculptor, stage designer and art professor. He was a member of the art movement Neue Wilde.

Early life and education
Immendorff was born in Bleckede, Lower Saxony, near Lüneburg on the west bank of the Elbe. When he was 11 years old, his father left the family. This traumatic experience has been used to explain Immendorff's later feelings of inadequacy and emotional remoteness. He attended the boarding School ←Ernst-Kalkuhl Gymnasium as a student. At the age of sixteen he had his first exhibition in a jazz cellar in Bonn.

Beginning in 1963, Immendorff studied at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf). Initially he studied for three terms with the theater designer Teo Otto. After Otto threw him out of his class for refusing to let one of his paintings serve as stage-set decoration, Immendorff was accepted as a student by Joseph Beuys. The academy expelled him because of some of his (left-wing) political activities and neo-dadaist actions.

From 1969 to 1980, Immendorff worked as an art teacher at a public school, and then as a free artist, holding visiting professorships all over Europe. In 1989, he became professor at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main and in 1996 he became professor at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf—the same school that had dismissed him decades earlier as a student. His master students at the Düsseldorf Art Academy included Oda Jaune and Renata Jaworska.

Work
Jörg Immendorff often worked in "grand cycles of paintings" that often lasted years at a time and were political in nature. Notable cycles include LIDL, Maoist Paintings, Cafè Deutschland , and The Rake's Progress.

LIDL
The first body of work that Immendorff gave a name to were his LIDL paintings, sculptures, performances, and documents, that he executed during 1968–1970. The name, "LIDL" was inspired by the sound of a child's rattle makes and much of his work from this period included the iconography of new beginnings and innocence. LIDL is comparable to Dadaist but unlike the Dadist movement it never became an established group but rather consisted of a variety of artists (including James Lee Byars, Marcel Broodthaers, Nam June Paik, and Joseph Beuys) participating in actions and activities. The art-historian Pamela Kort wrote this of Immendorf's LIDL works:

"LIDL ridiculed elitist art traditions, the cult of creative 'genius', and the precious aesthetic object. The artist countered these hierarchies by assembling a body of pretentious iconographic motifs drawn from the make-believe world of the child – turtles, dogs, goldfish, playhouses, and polar bears – which he transformed into the 'working material' of what he hoped would be a new functional art form." In January 1968 he appeared in front of the West German Parliament in Bonn with a wood block labeled “Lidl” tethered to his ankle and painted in the colors of the German flag; he was subsequently arrested for defaming the flag.

Café Deutschland
Best known is his Café Deutschland series of sixteen large paintings (1977–1984) that were inspired by Renato Guttuso’s  Caffè Greco; in these crowded colorful pictures, Immendorff had disco-goers symbolize the conflict between East and West Germany. Since the 1970s, he worked closely with the painter A. R. Penck from Dresden (in East Germany). Immendorff was a member of the German art movement Neue Wilde.

Other activities
Immendorff created several stage designs, including two for the Salzburg Festival. He designed sets for the operas Elektra and The Rake's Progress. The latter also inspired a series of paintings in which he cast himself as the rake.

In 1984, Immendorff opened the bar La Paloma near the Reeperbahn in Hamburg St. Pauli and created a large bronze sculpture of Hans Albers there. He also contributed to the design of André Heller's avant-garde amusement park "Luna, Luna" in 1987. For three months, from 1987 until 1988, Immendorff was the foreign artist in residence at the Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand, attracting a lot of attention in the local scene there. Immendorff created various sculptures; one spectacular example is a 25 m tall iron sculpture in the form of an oak tree trunk, erected in Riesa in 1999.

In 2006, Immendorff selected 25 of his paintings for an illustrated Bible. In the foreword he described his belief in God.

Exhibitions
A major 2019 survey began at the Haus der Kunst in Munich and later traveled later to the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid and the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, curated by Francesco Bonami.

Personal life
In 2000, Immendorff married his former student Oda Jaune. The two had a daughter, Ida, who was born on 13 August 2001.

In August 2003, Immendorff was caught in the luxury suite of the Steigenberger Parkhotel in Düsseldorf with seven prostitutes (and four more on their way) and some cocaine. More cocaine was found in his studio; all in all, the found substances contained 6.6 grams of pure cocaine, above the legal threshold for personal use. In interviews, Immendorff attempted to explain his actions with his terminal illness and as an expression of his "orientalism" that provided inspiration for his work. He also complained about prostitutes "who don't understand that a good whore does not divulge anything about her clients." He cooperated with the prosecution, admitted to having taken cocaine since the early 1990s and supplied the name of his dealer. At the trial in July 2004, he admitted to having organized 27 similar orgies between February 2001 and August 2003. He was sentenced to 11 months on probation and was fined €150,000. The mild sentence was justified with Immendorff's illness and his extensive confession. He had been suspended from his position at the university but was reinstated after the verdict.

In March 2004, a woman attempted to blackmail Immendorff, threatening to divulge further details of the orgies. Immendorff notified the police and she was arrested. Her trial started in September 2004.

Disease and death
Immendorff was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) in 1998. When he could not paint with his left hand any more, he switched to the right. In 2004 he funded a stipend to research the disease.

In November 2005, he was treated by emergency physicians and was admitted to a hospital, where a tracheotomy had to be performed to help him breathe. As of 2006, he used a wheelchair full-time and did not paint anymore; instead he directed his assistants to paint following his instructions.

On 27 May 2007, at the age of 61, he succumbed to the disease. He died in Düsseldorf and his ashes were scattered in the Mediterranean Sea. In his will, he left his entire estate, estimated at €15–18 million, to his wife. A 12-year-old son from a former relationship who never knew his father went to court over the size of his legitime.

Recognition
In 1997, Immendorf won the world's best endowed art prize at the time, the MARCO prize of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Monterrey, Mexico. In the following year he received the merit medal (Bundesverdienstkreuz) of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Immendorf was considered a friend and the favorite painter of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who chose him to paint his official portrait for the Federal Chancellery. The portrait, which was completed by Immendorff's assistants, was revealed to the public in January 2007; the massive work has ironic character, showing the former Chancellor in stern heroic pose, in the colors of the German flag, painted in the style of an icon, surrounded by little monkeys. These "painter monkeys" were a recurring theme in Immendorff's work, serving as an ironic commentary on the artist's business.

Art market
In 2008, the Estate of the Artist contested the authenticity of a work that was offered at an auction, and the work was withdrawn from the sale. The artist's widow sought permission to have the work destroyed, which was granted in 2012 after the work was declared a fake. The original owner of the piece contested this ruling, and in 2014 the High Regional Court of Düsseldorf overruled the decision, claiming the authenticity of the work was “irrelevant.”

The most expensive painting by the artist in the art market was Ende gut, alles gut (All's Well that Ends Well) (1983), who sold at Sotheby's London, on 7 February 2007, by £288,000 ($567,272).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Jörg Immendorff


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Welsh Highland Railway

The Welsh Highland Railway (WHR; Rheilffordd Eryri) is a 25 mi long, restored narrow gauge heritage railway in the Welsh county of Gwynedd, operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, and passing through a number of popular tourist destinations including Beddgelert and the Aberglaslyn Pass. At Porthmadog it connects with the Ffestiniog Railway and to the short Welsh Highland Heritage Railway. In Porthmadog it uses the United Kingdom's only mixed gauge flat rail crossing.

The restoration, which had the civil engineering mainly built by contractors and the track mainly built by volunteers, received a number of awards. Originally running from Dinas, near Caernarfon, to Porthmadog Harbour, the current line includes an additional section from Dinas to Caernarfon. The original line also had a branch to Bryngwyn and the slate quarries around Moel Tryfan, which has not been restored. (This branch forms a footpath "rail trail", the lower section of which has been resurfaced and supplied with heritage notice-boards.)

There is also the 3/4 mi long Welsh Highland Heritage Railway which runs from Porthmadog along the trackbed of the former Cambrian Railways exchange siding and connects to the WHR main line at Pen-y-Mount junction.

History
The original Welsh Highland Railway was formed in 1922 from the merger of two companies – the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways (NWNGR) and the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway (PBSSR), successor to the Portmadoc, Croesor and Beddgelert Tram Railway. It was never a commercial success; the carriages of the 1890s were outdated and uncomfortable for so long a ride, the journey took too long and the service had a reputation for being unreliable.

Forerunners: 1863–1921
The Croesor Tramway had run from Porthmadog since 1863 up into the Croesor Valley and the slate quarries in this area. This was a horse-worked line laid to a nominal gauge.

The NWNGR had originally built a narrow gauge line from a junction with the  London and North Western Railway line at Dinas to Bryngwyn with a branch from Tryfan Junction via Waunfawr to Llyn Cwellyn (Snowdon Ranger). The line was opened in 1877 and was extended to South Snowdon (Rhyd Ddu) in 1881, a total of 9 mi. This closed to passengers in 1914 but goods traffic continued up to its absorption by the WHR in 1922.

In 1902, the newly formed PBSSR took over the failed Portmadoc, Croesor and Beddgelert Tram Railway with the aim of extending it to South Snowdon slate quarry in the Nant Gwynant Pass. Work was abandoned by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, although the tunnels through the Aberglaslyn Pass were mostly completed.

Formation and construction: 1921–1923
The name Welsh Highland Railway first appeared in 1921 when a 1914 light railway order (LRO) was processed. It was originally drawn up by the local Caernarfonshire authorities and aimed to link the PGSSR and NWNGR but had been delayed by the First World War. It was revived by two local politicians and a Scottish distillery owner, Sir John Henderson Stewart. In July 1921, Stewart also obtained control of the Festiniog Railway, to obtain extra rolling stock for the WHR.

The LRO was passed in 1922, following a public inquiry. The budget was £75,000 and much of the funding was borrowed from the Ministry of Transport and local authorities. According to the historian Peter Johnson, this would become a burden as the railway needed to generate the unlikely sum of £3,750 profit each year to service the debt.

Two further LROs enabled improvements to the railway's alignment at Beddgelert, a new station site in Porthmadog and a link to the Festiniog Railway. McAlpine & Sons were contracted to refurbish the existing lines and complete the link between Rhyd Ddu and Croesor Junction, thus creating a railway that ran from Dinas to join the Festiniog Railway at Porthmadog. Like the modern day WHR, the railway was opened in stages. The former NWNGR section re-opened on 31 July 1922 and the remainder on 1 June 1923.

Fall into receivership: 1923–1933
The WHR venture was not a success and was beset with problems from the start. Indeed, 1923 was its most successful year. Much hoped-for revenue from quarry traffic never materialised as the slate industry had fallen into decline. Its passenger services were also unsuccessful and could not compete with the local bus services, which often took half the time to complete the same journey. Its rolling stock was out of date, it lacked locomotives and carriages and its marketing was inadequate. In 1924, winter passenger services were discontinued due to poor traffic. A dispute with the Great Western Railway over the costs of the crossing over its line at Porthmadog also caused problems, despite the crossing having been used since 1867 without any charges or problems. The railway even had to resort to escorting passengers across the crossing on foot.

After 1923, it was unable to pay debenture interest and, in 1927, the county council sued and put the railway into receivership. Services continued and by 1933, it was run down and the local authorities decided to close it.

Control by the Festiniog Railway Company: 1934–1937
In 1934, the company agreed to lease the line to the Festiniog Railway Company for 42 years. It was a disaster, with the FR forced to pay rent even if the WHR made a loss.

The FR Co. attempted to change the line's fortunes by re-focussing on the tourist market. This included painting the carriages bright colours, including yellow and blue and promoting the Aberglaslyn Pass as a destination by renaming Nantmor station as Aberglaslyn. They also tried to promote round trip (return) journeys, with passengers taking the standard gauge line to Dinas, travelling on the WHR and the Festiniog Railway to Blaenau Ffestiniog and then changing again to take the standard gauge railway to their original starting point.

Despite these attempts, the FR Co. were unsuccessful, the last passenger train ran in 1936 and the last goods service in 1937. The early tourist industry did not provide sufficient visitors to make the railway pay, especially during the Depression. Competition from buses which ran a faster and more regular service from Caernarfon and Beddgelert also played a part. The last passenger train ran on 5 September 1936 and, in February 1937, the FR decided not to run the WHR again.

Fall into liquidation 1937–1941
As there was no provision for the Ffestiniog Railway Company to hand back its lease and the WHR was bankrupt, the line became dormant. In 1941, the authorities decided to requisition the movable assets for use in the Second World War. Much of the rolling stock was sold off and most of the track was lifted. The Croesor Tramway section was left intact in case the slate quarries re-opened and remained until finally lifted in 1948–9.

In 1943, the Ffestiniog Railway surrendered its lease and, in exchange for £550 compensation, it was allowed to keep 'Single Fairlie' Moel Tryfan (although it only paid £150).

Various legal manoeuvres followed this, including a serious application to turn the route into a long-distance footpath. Although these plans were ultimately unfruitful, the statutory powers ensured that the trackbed was kept mainly intact, rather than sold off bit by bit, which would have made restoration much more difficult and potentially expensive. However, some parts, such as the sites of and  stations, were sold off.

Restoration
The Welsh Highland Railway's restoration has a long, complicated and controversial history and includes several court cases and public inquiries.

The origins of the WHRL restoration efforts, tentatively began in 1961 when disagreements within the volunteers of the Festiniog Railway and a group of like-minded railway enthusiasts, joined to form The Welsh Highland Railway Society. This group is the precursor of what eventually became WHR Ltd., which owns and operates the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway (WHHR). Legal problems meant they were unable to take over the old company so, in the 1970s, the group purchased the former standard gauge exchange sidings (the Beddgelert Siding) near Tremadog Road, Porthmadog, from British Railways to use as a base. In 1980, they began running passenger services over the line that is now known as the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway. They also acquired an original WHR locomotive Russell, which began working passenger services in 1987.

In the mid-1980s, a number of FR Co. employees became concerned about impact of possible competition from a rebuilt WHR and passed this view on to the FR management. In 1987, this resulted in a confidential offer to buy the WHR track bed from the official receiver for £16,000 to prevent the WHR being developed. In 1989, the offer became public, causing a backlash against the FR Co.

In 1990, a change of directors resulted in the FR Co.'s decision to take over the restoration of the WHR. After a long legal battle between the two companies, the FR Co. won control of the WHR track bed and it re-opened the railway in stages, starting in 1997. The line was completed in 2011.

Extension
With Caernarfon Council having a longer-term plan to reinstate the town's rail transport link to Bangor, speculation mounted that the FR/WHR would potentially later extend itself. However, the Ffestiniog Railway wrote to the council in January 2014 to confirm that they would not themselves be supportive of such a scheme in narrow gauge, but supported the reconnection of the town to the national rail network using standard gauge.

The present day WHR
The modern Welsh Highland Railway is a tourist railway owned and operated by the Festiniog Railway Company. It is longer than the original line and starts from Caernarfon rather than Dinas. The extension was built on the trackbed of the former standard gauge railway. Dinas station is also built on the standard gauge railway site, rather than the original narrow gauge site, with the line moving onto the original WHR alignment just south of the station. It is marketed by the FR Co. as The Welsh Highland Railway and Rheilffordd Eryri (In the Welsh language, Eryri = "Snowdonia"). The WHR's connection to the Ffestiniog Railway means that the FR Co. controls almost 40 miles of narrow gauge railway and it promotes both lines jointly as the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways or Rheilffyrdd Ffestiniog ac Eryri.

The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway
The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway (Welsh: Rheilffordd Ucheldir Cymru) is a 1-mile (1.6 km) long heritage narrow gauge railway owned and operated by Welsh Highland Railway Ltd. (WHR Ltd.). It operates from its main station at Tremadog Road, Porthmadog to its terminus at Pen-y-Mount, where it connects to the Ffestiniog Railway Company owned Welsh Highland Railway.

WHR Ltd's primary focus is on recreating the atmosphere of the original Welsh Highland Railway. This includes replicas of original buildings, using original and replica carriages and rolling stock and the staff wearing period costume. It also has a museum at its Gelert's Farm Works and every train halts there on the return journey to allow passengers to visit it. There is also a miniature railway and a tea room at its main Porthmadog station.

Relationship with the Festiniog Railway Company
Although WHR Ltd lost the battle for control of the WHR to the Festiniog Railway Company, they have also been involved in its restoration.

On 12 January 1998, both companies signed an agreement, commonly known as the "98 agreement". In return, for dropping its objections to the Festiniog Railway Company's application to restore the railway; WHR Ltd would be allowed to construct the section of the railway from to Pont Croesor and then operate their own services over it until such time as the "Head of Steel" arrived at Pont Croesor from the north. The Pen y Mount to Pont Croesor section would then be handed over to the FR's construction company for incorporation into the rest of the WHR. Finally, in between its principal services, the FR would then operate trains from the WHR Ltd's Porthmadog (WHHR) railway station, to unspecified destinations on the WHR, using WHR Ltd locomotives, rolling stock and (where possible) WHR Ltd staff. Revenue from these trains would be retained by the FR, but they would, in turn, pay a hire fee for the use of the locomotive and rolling stock and a track access fee for the use of WHR Ltd's line between Porthmadog (WHR) and Pen y Mount.

Another key part of the agreement defined the names of the two companies' operations during the period that the line was restored. The FR Co. promoted their section as The Welsh Highland Railway (Caernarfon) (WHR C) and WHR Ltd. changed its operational name from The Welsh Highland Railway to The Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) (WHR P). When the two sections were connected in 2008, WHR Ltd. changed its operational name to The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway and the FR Co. started to promote their operation as The Welsh Highland Railway or, in a largely Welsh-speaking area, ''Rheilffordd Eryri.

In the end, WHR Ltd was only able to build around a third of the way to Pont Croesor, with trains terminating at a location known as Traeth Mawr Loop (opened in 2007). The reasons behind this and the consequences, continue to be a subject of debate and led directly to a breakdown of relations between the two companies in 2008. Since then efforts have been made to improve relations and these are still ongoing.

Welsh titles
The original Welsh Highland never had an official Welsh translation of its name, despite the fact that North Wales has always been a heartland for the Welsh language. Local people tended to refer to it by informal names such as Y Lein Bach or Lein Bach Beddgelert (the little Beddgelert railway).

In contrast, the restored lines are known as Rheilffordd Ucheldir Cymru and Rheilffordd Eryri.

Rheilffordd Ucheldir Cymru (= Welsh Highland Railway) has been used since 1980 by WHR Ltd. and its predecessors.

Rheilffordd Eryri (Eryri = Land of Eagles, the Welsh name for Snowdonia) is the Welsh title used by the Festiniog Railway Company for its Welsh Highland Railway operations.

Original locomotives
Two locomotives were inherited from the predecessor companies: Moel Tryfan and Russell. When these proved insufficient, Baldwin 590 was acquired by H.F. Stephens and several Festiniog Railway locomotives saw regular use on the Welsh Highland Railway throughout its entire pre-closure existence from 1923 to 1937. 590 was planned to be part of a larger fleet to replace Moel Tryfan and Russell but it gained so little popularity that Stephens never bought another. By 1936 Moel Tryfan was out of use at Boston Lodge. When Russell and 590 were withdrawn the following year, they were placed in Dinas shed, but when the Second World War broke out, the Ministry of War came to see about appropriating them for the war effort. After some examination of the engines and questioning of those who had worked them, Russell (regarded as a good engine) was removed for further use, and 590 (seen as an unreliable, rough rider with difficult controls and inadequate adhesion) was broken up at Dinas. Despite the unpopularity of 590, the WHHR (Porthmadog) is currently refurbishing a similar Baldwin to act as a replica.

During the ownership of the WHR by the Festiniog Railway Company, Moel Tryfan and Russell were cut down to allow them to traverse the Festiniog Railway to Blaenau Ffestiniog. Moel Tryfan proved suitable, but Russell, even in cut down form, was not low or narrow enough to fit the FR's highly restrictive loading gauge. Russell is now owned by WHR Ltd and has been restored to its original profile. 590 notably retained its original form until its demise.

Operation

The railway is a single track line with passing loops at Dinas, Waunfawr, Rhyd Ddu, Beddgelert and Pont Croesor halt. There is also a loop at Hafod y Llyn, which is normally locked out of use as a stabling point for engineering trains.

As with any single track railway, there are strict rules managing the movement of trains to prevent more than one entering a section. The line is managed from a single "Control" office at Porthmadog Harbour Station, which also performs the same task for the Ffestiniog Railway. Control is responsible for the safe and efficient operation of trains, logs train movements on a train graph and acts as a single point of contact in emergencies. A system of tokens is used to control train access to single line sections.

Communication between train crew and Control always occurs using a landline at stations. There is no in-cab radio system and current regulations forbid use of such whilst in motion. As a backup system only, the guard carries a company mobile telephone for use in an emergency. This is not a primary system as cellular coverage is intermittent over the length of the line. His Majesty's Railway Inspectorate, the organisation responsible for safety on British railways, insists on landlines as the main form of safety critical communication.

Signalling
The signalling on the WHR is much simpler than that used on the Ffestiniog Railway or the UK national rail network.

To enter any section of line, the train crew must obtain permission from Control and the relevant token. Each section of line is a token block section. The WHR uses the traditional Staff and Ticket system in which trains can either be issued with the section token staff or a numbered ticket. Tickets allow multiple trains to pass one-at-a-time through a section in one direction. The Controller advises the train crew which method they will be using. Tickets are kept in a locked box opened by a key on the token staff. This means the last train must use the token staff to pass through the section, so it can be used for trains to travel in the opposite direction. For additional protection, both the footplate crew and the guard must see the token or ticket before the train can depart.

At some stations an additional "Shunt" token is used to allow shunting to take place (such as a locomotive "running round" a train). They are provided at Dinas, Rhyd Ddu, Beddgelert and at Pont Croesor. The shunt token can only be withdrawn (used) with permission from Control and if there are no trains approaching the station in the adjacent single line sections. Withdrawing the token causes two yellow lights to go out on a red warning board on the line approaching the station, preventing other trains from entering the station.

The majority of the points at passing loops are operated automatically using the Automatic Train Operated Trailable (ATOTP) system, rather than a manually operated lever or point motor. There are also no signals to indicate that a train can enter a section. A "Stop" board at the end of the platform orders the train to stop until the train crew have obtained permission to proceed from control and a token. At the end of the section, the train can proceed into the platform provided the lights are lit on the home (shunt token warning) board, the point indicator is lit and the relevant platform is clear.

Future signalling – ETS
One of the disadvantages of the staff and ticket system is that it is very inflexible. If a locomotive fails in a station, for example, a token staff may be at the wrong end of a section and will have to be moved by road. This situation does not occur under the Electric Token System (ETS), a more advanced system in which tokens can be obtained at either end of a section from a token instrument.

ETS has been used on the Ffestiniog Railway for many years and the FR Co. were anxious to obtain enough ETS instruments to equip the WHR. After a long search, sufficient ETS equipment to operate the entire railway has been obtained from the Irish railway company Iarnród Éireann. The equipment became redundant after Iarnród Éireann modernised its signalling systems in the early 2000s.

As the WHR has no telephone cabling to connect the system, the FR Co. is developing a more modern alternative method of connecting the ETS machines. Until the system is finished, the WHR will continue using its current token systems.

Cae Pawb – The Cambrian crossing
Just outside Porthmadog, the railway crosses the Network Rail-owned Cambrian Coast line using a flat crossing. It existed on the old Welsh Highland Railway and was the source of much conflict between the old company and the Great Western Railway over the cost of WHR trains using the crossing. On the modern WHR, the crossing is called Cae Pawb. Cae Pawb means "everybody's field" and is a reference to the nearby field of allotments.

Information, from the engineers involved, is that the Network Rail line crosses on solid steel billets to the same head, foot and height measurements as the adjacent standard gauge rail, but that the narrow gauge crosses on rail of a similar section which is joined on either side in succession to 80 lb/yd (36 kg/m)rail and then to the normal 60 lb/yd (30 kg/m) rail used for the narrow gauge.

Cae Pawb is at the north-western end of the Network Rail Harlech to Porthmadog signalling section, which is controlled from Machynlleth Control Centre. Standard gauge trains are protected by signals and wide-to-gauge trap points on the WHR line, which are interlocked with the standard gauge European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) signalling. The crossing is activated locally and ERTMS automatically gives permission for WHR trains to cross provided the standard gauge section is available. A crossing controller operates the crossing when passenger trains are running, with operation at other times being carried out by the train crew.

A set of replica white wooden crossing gates separate the narrow gauge line from the standard gauge track and continue the Network Rail boundary fencing. They are left open when a crossing controller is present. The gates open inwards to prevent them blocking the standard gauge line. A replica signal box was constructed for this crossing but has now been installed at Pen y Mount to control the junction with the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway.

Porthmadog cross-town link
South of the Cambrian crossing, WHR cross town link trains move direct to Porthmadog Harbour, where passengers alight.

At Harbour Station there is a platform between the Welsh Highland and Ffestiniog lines so that passengers may transfer from one train to the other. There are also the usual facilities including a respectable eating house.

Timetable
Historically, the WHR was split into two operational sections:
 * Dinas to Beddgelert and Beddgelert to Porthmadog (using present day form)

For the 2009 timetable operation, a "two set" operation was employed, with rolling stock being based at Dinas. During the year, operations were extended from Rhyd Ddu, first to Beddgelert on 7 April 2009, and then to Hafod y Llyn on 21 May 2009, site of a small halt on the original line. Although passengers could board and alight at Hafod-y-Llyn, its remote location meant that it could only be accessed by self-sufficient walkers and cyclists as there were no parking or other facilities at the halt and the platform was very short. It closed when Pont Croesor was opened in 2010.

The Festiniog Railway Company had, at one point, planned to open the entire railway in 2007. Delays from government processes, a foot-and-mouth epidemic and funding restrictions meant that the opening was repeatedly delayed, with the full opening not happening until 2011. The line could not be opened to Beddgelert until the track left the national park at Pont Ynysferlas; this restriction was imposed by the Snowdonia National Park Authority to be sure that the railway really meant what it said, but this suspicious attitude lost the railway a year's income from Beddgelert. From the end of May 2010, the line was extended a further 3 mi to Pont Croesor. Shortly thereafter the railway announced that as it had approval for service by the Safety Directorate of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), the remaining section would be completed before the end of September 2010. The cause of this sudden rush was the transition from legislation enshrined in the Railways and Other Transport Systems (Approval of Works, Plant and Equipment) Regulations 1994 (ROTS) to new legislation enshrined in the Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006 (ROGS). This should have happened in 2006, but heritage railways gained an extension of the transition period to 1 October 2010. It was foreseen that this change in regime would bring additional costs to the railway, so it was decided to complete the line before that date. A minor delay was incurred by the necessity to build a new culvert where the new Porthmadog A487 bypass road was being built.

Following the visit from the ORR on 15 October 2010, approval was given for passenger operation. On 30 October 2010 the first passenger trains, departing from Caernarfon to Porthmadog and return, were operated for the benefit of sponsors of the project. The commissioning of the ERTMS signalling on the Cambrian Line was completed during a possession from Harlech to Pwllheli between 24 and 27 October.

As a result of the A487 Porthmadog bypass works, the Ffestiniog Railway was severed just east of Minffordd station from 3 January to 16 February 2011 to build a new bridge. Therefore, the regular Winter FR trains were scheduled to operate from Porthmadog to Hafod y Llyn. The first through services between Caernarfon and Porthmadog Harbour station began on 19 February 2011, with regular services recommencing from 27 March 2011.

Whole of line operations
Although, with completion of the main track laying it is now possible to run trains from Caernarfon through to Blaenau Ffestiniog, there are initially no plans to do so on a regular basis. The WHR is built to a slightly larger loading gauge than the Ffestiniog Railway and therefore through trains would, of necessity, be exclusively of FR stock.

Accidents and incidents

 * On 4 March 1881, a passenger train was blown off the line near Snowdon Ranger Halt. The sole passenger on board was injured.
 * On 10 June 2018, whilst hauling a passenger train, locomotive 143 was derailed near Clogwyn y Gwin South foot crossing due to the failure of part of the suspension of the front bogie. There were no injuries amongst the 74 passengers and seven staff on board.
 * On 16 April 2019, the diesel locomotive Vale of Ffestiniog passed a signal at danger and entered a single line section without authority while travelling light engine from Dinas to Porthmadog. The locomotive did not have sufficient brake force to stop on the steep downhill gradient through Beddgelert, as a result of in-house modifications to the brake system and poor adhesion conditions. There were no injuries, and no damage was caused.
 * On 19 December 2021 a derailment occurred on the bogie of the 4th passenger coach (no 125), just after crossing Brynyfelin River Bridge. The line was closed for 2 days to recover the train.

Original

 * Dinas
 * Tryfan Junction
 * Rhostryfan
 * Bryngwyn
 * Waunfawr
 * Bettws Garmon
 * Salem Halt
 * Plas-y-Nant
 * Snowdon Ranger (aka Quellyn Lake)
 * Rhyd Ddu (aka South Snowdon)
 * Pitts Head
 * Hafod Ruffydd Halt
 * Beddgelert
 * Nantmor
 * Hafod-y-Llyn Halt
 * Hafod Garregog Halt
 * Croesor Junction
 * Ynysfor Halt
 * Pont Croesor
 * Portmadoc New (1933) station
 * Portmadoc New (1923) station
 * Porthmadog Harbour

Restored Welsh Highland Railway / Rheilffordd Eryri

 * Caernarfon 0 miles (0 km) Inaugural Train departed 11 October 1997
 * Bontnewydd
 * Dinas 2.7 miles (4.3 km)
 * Tryfan Junction Sponsors' Train stopped here in 2010. Reopened in 2011.
 * Waunfawr 6.5 miles (10.4 km)
 * Plas-y-Nant
 * Snowdon Ranger
 * Rhyd Ddu 12.1 miles (19.4 km)
 * Meillionen (Forest Campsite)
 * Beddgelert 16.8 miles (27.0 km)
 * Nantmor (opened 27 May 2010)
 * Hafod y Llyn(Closed)
 * Pont Croesor 22.3 miles (35.9 km) (opened 27 May 2010)
 * Pen-y-Mount Junction 23.9 miles (38.4 km) (Not open, WHR platform to be built)
 * Porthmadog Harbour 24.7 miles (39.7 km) Inaugural Train arrived 30 October 2010

Welsh Highland Heritage Railway / Rheilffordd Ucheldir Cymru

 * Porthmadog (WHHR)
 * Gelert's Farm Halt
 * Pen-y-Mount Junction (Current terminus)
 * Traeth Mawr Loop (Never a station. Temporary terminus loop in 2007 & 2008, now removed.)

title: Welsh Highland Railway


text:
Cherkasy Oblast

Cherkasy Oblast (Черкаська область, ), also referred to as Cherkashchyna (Черкащина, ) is an oblast (province) in central Ukraine located along the Dnieper River. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Cherkasy. The current population of the oblast is

Geography
Spanning 20,900 km2, Cherkasy Oblast is the 18th largest oblast of Ukraine, comprising about 3.5% of the area of the country. The south flowing Dnieper River with the hilly western bank and the plain eastern bank divides the oblast into two unequal parts. The larger western part belongs to the Dnieper Upland. The low-lying eastern part of the oblast used to be subject to the frequent Dnieper flooding before the flow of the river became controlled by multiple dams of Hydroelectric Power Plants constructed along the river in the 20th century.

The oblast extends for 245 km from south-west to north-east, and for 150 km from north to south. The northernmost point of the oblast is located is near the village of Kononivka in Zolotonosha Raion (district), the southernmost point near the village of Kolodyste in Zvenyhorodka Raion, the westernmost point near the village of Korytnya in Uman Raion, and the easternmost point near the village of Stetsivka in Cherkasy Raion. The geometric centre of the oblast is located near the village Zhuravky of Horodyshche Raion. The oblast borders Kyiv Oblast to the north, Kirovohrad Oblast to the south, Poltava Oblast to the east, and Vinnytsia Oblast to the west.

History
Cherkasy Oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on 7 January 1954 by the ukase of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. On 26 April 1954 the ukase was approved by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.

The oblast's territory was the major cities of Cherkasy, Smila and Uman, their corresponding raions (districts), as well as 30 former raions of the Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Kirovohrad and Poltava Oblasts.

Archaeological discoveries have shown that people have inhabited the valley of the Dnieper River since time immemorial. The oldest objects excavated on the territory of the region date back to the Stone Age – the Palaeolithic period.

Administrative divisions
Since July 2020, Cherkasy Oblast is administratively subdivided into 4 raions (districts). These are further divided into 66 hromadas (communities).

The following data incorporates the number of each type of administrative divisions of Cherkasy Oblast:

 * Administrative Center — 1 (Cherkasy)
 * Raions — 4
 * Hromadas — 66, including:
 * Urban hromadas — 16
 * Settlement hromadas — 10
 * Rural hromadas — 40

The local administration of the oblast is controlled by the Cherkasy Oblast Rada. The governor of the oblast is the Cherkasy Oblast Rada speaker, appointed by the President of Ukraine.

Since July 2020, Cherkasy Oblast consists of four raions:

The region has 16 populated places designated as cities (towns). The only one with the population over 100 thousands is Cherkasy. Uman and Smila are in the range between 80 and 90 thousands, and all others are below 30 thousands.

Demographics

The current estimated population is 1,335,064 (as of 2006).

According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, the oblast's population is almost equally divided between the urban and rural areas (53.7% and 46.3%, respectively). The demographic situation in this largely agricultural territory is somewhat complicated by population ageing.

By ethnic composition, Ukrainians represent the overwhelming majority of the oblast's population (93.1%). Ethnic Russians are the second group of population (5.4%), and are concentrated mainly in the city of Cherkasy.

Age structure

 * 0-14 years: 13.4% (male 87,557/female 82,340)
 * 15-64 years: 69.1% (male 417,426/female 457,390)
 * 65 years and over: 17.5% (male 72,835/female 147,711) (2013 official)

Median age

 * total: 41.7 years
 * male: 38.4 years
 * female: 45.0 years (2013 official)

Economy
The economy of the Cherkasy Oblast is largely dominated by agriculture. While the winter wheat and sugar beets are the main products grown in the oblast, barley, corn, tobacco and hemp are also grown. Cattle breeding is also important.

The industry is mainly concentrated in Cherkasy, the oblast's capital and the largest city. A chemical industry was developed in the city in late 1960s in addition to machine building, furniture making and agricultural processing.

Nomenclature
Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (обласний центр). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city: Cherkasy is the center of the Cherkaska oblast (Cherkasy Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Cherkasy Oblast, Cherkashchyna.

Education
There are 5 universities in the region:
 * The Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy
 * Cherkasy State Technological University
 * Uman National University Of Horticulture
 * Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University
 * East European University of Economics and Management (private)

Attractions

 * Sofiivka
 * Fatherland of Taras Shevchenko
 * Trypillian culture
 * Shevchenko National preserve
 * Martynivka Treasure housed in Kyiv

title: Cherkasy Oblast


text:
Talk:Session Initiation Protocol

Little problem concerning Gizmo
Sorry to maybe report this the wrong way, but I think there is a problem concerning Gizmo: . I'm not sure, but I think this should be:

SIP Security
a imho big problem of this article is the complete lack of (in)security aspects of SIP. RFC3261 mentions over 20 pages the different threats and suggestions on solutions of this problem

 * We do have Session_Initiation_Protocol but a more comprehensive discussion of security issues would be welcome. ~Kvng (talk) 03:36, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

SIP gleaning: merge here
"SIP gleaning" is a one short paragraph long article that would barely become anything much larger. I don't see any rationale why it shouldn't be part of main SIP article. --GreyCat 11:59, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

 * I'm a bit confused about "SIP gleaning". Could you name a RFC which defines this? --Kgfleischmann 12:17, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

 * This seems to be a neologism or marketing term. The only SIP device manufacturer that mentions the phrase is Nortel (see this google search, which yields 14 hits total). I don't think we need to discuss this - I'm going to redirect without merging. If anyone wants to merge the info, by all means do so. The topic most certainly doesn't warrant its own article. Mind  matrix  14:51, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Must agree with MindMatrix here, a wording from a switch user manual they sell (I'm not from Nortel!):

SIP NAT and Gleaning Support

The IP end points on a network are typically assigned private addresses. Voice calls from and to the public network need to reach end points on the private network. As a result, NAT is required to allow proper routing of media to end points with private addresses. The SIP carries the identification of the IP end point (IP address/Port) within the body of the message. The voice media which gets directed to the private IP address identified in the signaling message cannot be routed and results in a one way path. Therefore, switches or end point routers shall NAT the SDP and create sessions for the media communication. The term "gleaning" is likely not relevant to the context, says how a NW element (can) optimises such function/feature. 81.114.228.2 15:40, 5 December 2006 (UTC)The Supernatural Protocols Anaesthetist

I also agree to merge it with this article. Sae1962 (talk) 10:41, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

 * SIP gleaning now redirects here but SIP gleaning is not mentioned in this article which creates an WP:ASTONISHING situation for readers. The former content of SIP gleaning was "The process of identifying the IP end point of a SIP based message. SIP gleaning is necessary for proper routing of SIP traffic to end points with private addresses. SIP gleaning is typically associated with maintaining persistence in load balanced SIP environments." Perhaps somone will take it upon themselves to incorporate this information. ~Kvng (talk) 03:36, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

SIP vs. SS7
The article (as per July 8th 2010) saids that "SS7 is a centralized protocol, characterized by a complex central network architecture and dumb endpoints (traditional telephone handsets)" This statement is not accurate, as SS7 is in fact a data network protocol intended to transport different signalling protocols between nodes (not terminals) of public communication networks.

Consequently, different NNI (Node-to-Node) interfaces can be implemented over SS7 (wich is specified in the Q.7xx series of ITU-T recommendations), whilst UNI (User-to-Node) interfaces CAN'T be implemented over it.

It is however true that in traditional public communication services, each specific NNI usually has a corresponding UNI. As an example, the ISDN UNI (specified in Q.93x recommendations) corresponded to the ISUP (ISDN User Part) protocol for NNI (specified in Q.73x series of recommendations). The latter protocol is provided over SS7 whislt the former is not (it is actually provided over the Q.921/LAP-D access protocol). In these networks generally UNI protocols were asymmetrical (client/server based) whilst NNI protocols (i.e. those based on SS7) where symmetrical.

Furthermore, in traditional communication networks the level of sophistication of terminals is highly variable depending on which specific network are we considering (POTS - Plain Old Telephone System vs. ISDN) and, whithin each network, the specific type of service/terminal considered. As an example we can recall that some ISDN terminals implemented videoconferencing capabilities (including multivideoconferencing bridging), high quality voice communications (7kHz and even 16kHz wideband codecs) and multi-site distributed PABX capabilities (e.g. Centrex based). They also supported data communication services (X.25 and Frame Relay) with flexible on-demand usage of the available bandwithd, by gradually aggregating the 16kbps D-channel to the two 64/56kbps B-channels available in the BRI access interface. Most of these (UNI) capabilities had their corresponding NNI counterparts, which in turn could be implemented both in a distributed form along all the nodes of the network (following the traditional telephone approach) or on a more centralised way in specialised nodes of the network (IN - Intelligent Network) making use of generic transport capapibilities provided by the underlying network. The last approach, specified in the late 90's although not widely implemented, is conceptually closer to the telephone services presently implemented over SIP. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.146.123.226 (talk) 08:47, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Mazinalzypiry Mazinalzybiry (talk) 17:14, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

SIP Session Border Controller
SIP rfc 3261 doesn't talk about SBCs. Rather it's an engineered solution for NAT/Firewall traversal. I guess, it should be mentioned separately from other elements like proxy and registrar. Mvineetmenon (talk) 14:34, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
 * I added mention of this. ~Kvng (talk) 03:36, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Session Initiation Protocol


text:
Poltava Province

Poltava Province may refer to:
 * Poltava Oblast, subdivision of Ukraine
 * Poltava Governorate, subdivision of the Russian Empire

title: Poltava Province


text:
Kharkiv Oblast

Kharkiv Oblast (Харківська область), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (Харківщина), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine.

Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the west, Sumy Oblast to the northwest and Russia's Belgorod Oblast to the north. Its area is 31,400 km2, or 5.2% of the total territory of Ukraine.

The oblast is the third-most populous of Ukraine, with a population of 2,598,961 in 2021, more than half (1.42 million) of whom live in the city of Kharkiv, the oblast's administrative center.

Nomenclature
Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially called "oblast centers" (обласний центр, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city: Kharkiv is the center of the Kharkivs’ka oblast’ (Kharkiv Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Kharkiv Oblast, Kharkivshchyna.

Geography
The oblast borders Russia (Belgorod Oblast) to the north, Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the west and Sumy Oblast to the northwest.

The northern and central parts are part of historic Sloboda Ukraine, and the southern part is part of historic Zaporizhzhia.

History
During the Soviet administrative reform of 1923–1929, the Kharkov Governorate was abolished in 1925 leaving its five okruhas: Okhtyrka (originally Bohodukhiv), Izyum, Kupyansk, Sumy, and Kharkiv. Introduced in the Soviet Union in 1923, a similar subdivisions existed in Ukraine back in 1918. In 1930 all okruhas were also abolished with raions becoming the first level of subdivision of Ukraine until 1932.

The modern Kharkiv Oblast was established on 27 February 1932. In the summer of 1932, some parts of the oblast were included in the newly created Donetsk Oblast originally centered in Artemivsk (later in Stalino). Then in the fall, some territories of the Kharkiv Oblast were used in the creation of Chernihiv Oblast. More territories became part of Poltava Oblast in fall of 1937 and Sumy Oblast in winter of 1939.

During the Holodomor the population of the Kharkiv Oblast together with Kyiv Oblast suffered the most. During World War II, it was the site or large Soviet massacres of Poles (Piatykhatky) and German massacres of Jews (Drobytsky Yar). The region saw major fighting during World War II in several Battles of Kharkov between 1941 and 1943.

During the 1991 referendum, 86.33% of votes in Kharkiv Oblast were in favor of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine. A survey conducted in December 2014 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found 4.2% of the oblast's population supported their region joining Russia, 71.5% did not support the idea, and the rest were undecided or did not respond.

Following the Euromaidan, there was pro-Russian unrest in the region, and central government buildings were taken over by separatists in a failed attempt to create a separatist 'Kharkov's People's Republic'. The region also became a very popular destination for refugees from the Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast regions.

As part of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military launched a major military offensive in the region, which resulted in the occupation of parts of the oblast. By late August, about one third of the territory of Kharkiv Oblast was occupied including Izium and Kupiansk. In July 2022, the Donetsk People's Republic signed a memorandum to "liberate Kharkiv from Ukraine".

In early September 2022, the Ukrainian military commenced a counteroffensive in the region. Several settlements in the region were recaptured from Russian control. By 10 September 2022, Ukraine had recaptured Kupiansk and Izium. On 11 September, Russia had retreated from many of the settlements it previously occupied in the oblast and the Russian Ministry of Defense announced a formal withdrawal of Russian forces from most of Kharkiv Oblast stating that an "operation to curtail and transfer troops" was underway." By 12 September 2022, as the Russian front lines in Kharkiv Oblast continued to collapse, Ukrainian forces had managed to push back to the northeastern border with Russia in some areas of the region. By 3 October 2022, Russian forces had almost completely withdrawn from Kharkiv Oblast.  As of 2023, fighting continues in the easternmost parts of the oblast in the Battle of the Svatove–Kreminna line. In May 2024, Russia launched a renewed offensive in Kharkiv Oblast.

Demographics
Its population in 2001 was 2,895,800 million (1,328,900 males (45.9%) and 1,566,900 females (54.1%)).

At the 2001 census, the ethnic groups within the Kharkiv Oblast were:

 * Ukrainians – 70.7%
 * Russians – 25.6%
 * Belarusians – 0.5%
 * Jews – 0.4%
 * Armenians – 0.4%
 * Azeris – 0.2%
 * Georgians – 0.15%
 * Tatars – 0.14%
 * Others – 2.1%

Groups by native language:

 * Ukrainian – 53.8%
 * Russian – 44.3%
 * Other languages – 1.9%

Age structure

 * 0–14 years: 12.6% (male 177,464/female 167,321)
 * 15–64 years: 72.2% (male 945,695/female 1,024,841)
 * 65 years and over: 15.2% (male 135,737/female 277,725) (2013 official)

Median age

 * total: 40.5 years
 * male: 36.9 years
 * female: 44.1 years (2013 official)

Religion
In 2007, there were 700 religious associations in the Kharkiv Oblast, including:

 * 265 – Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
 * 116 – Baptists
 * 83 – Jehovah's Witnesses
 * 39 – Seventh-day Adventists Church
 * 34 – Christians of the Evangelical Faith
 * 25 – Pentecostals
 * 13 – Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate (now Orthodox Church of Ukraine)
 * 12 – Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (now Orthodox Church of Ukraine)
 * 9 – Judaism
 * 6 – Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
 * 6 – Roman Catholic Church

Cities and towns
Ranked by population, the oblast's 12 largest municipalities are:

 * 1) Coat of arms of Kharkiv.svg Kharkiv (1,421,125)
 * 2) Герб Лозової.svg Lozova (53,126)
 * 3) Coat of Arms of Izium.svg Izium (44,979)
 * 4) Coat of Arms Chuhuiv.png Chuhuiv (31,018)
 * 5) 1may har gerb.png Pervomaiskyi (28,510)
 * 6) Kupyansk-herb.png Kupiansk (26,627)
 * 7) Герб Балаклеи.png Balakliia (26,334)
 * 8) Coat of Arms Merefa.jpg Merefa (21,202)
 * 9) Lubotyn gerb.png Liubotyn (20,001)
 * 10) Герб_Краснограда_(Small).png Krasnohrad (19,674)
 * 11) Герб Волчанска.png Vovchansk (17,459)
 * 12) Derhatschi Wappen.png Derhachi (17,139)

Administrative divisions
Kharkiv Oblast is administratively subdivided into seven raions. Prior to the 2020 administrative reform, there were 25 raions, and also seven cities (municipalities) that were directly subordinate to the oblast government (Chuhuiv, Izium, Kupiansk, Liubotyn, Lozova, Pervomaiskyi, and the administrative center of the oblast, Kharkiv).

Economy
The Kharkiv oblast has a primarily industrial economy, including engineering, metallurgy, manufacturing, production of chemicals and food processing. It also has an important agricultural sector with 19,000 square kilometres of arable land (comprising 5.9% of the total arable lands of Ukraine). Agricultural production grew substantially in 2015.

Also in Kharkiv is the airplane plant for space controlling systems. It is a major center for all branches of engineering, from large-scale manufacture to microelectronics. Also situated in Kharkiv Oblast is a gas field, which is one of the biggest in Ukraine.

Transport
The Kharkiv Oblast has an undeveloped transport network, 60% of the total transportation falls on the part of the rail transport. At the end of 2020, the operational life of the salivary lines of the gas station on the territory of the Kharkiv region was 1520 km.

Kharkiv Salvage University serves 10 million passengers on the river, road transport, sedation, buses - about 12 million. The largest salvage stations are Izium, Kupiansk, Liubotyn, Lozova.

In the Kharkiv Oblast, in 2019, 31.4878 million passengers traveled through travel transport services, or 96.5% of the total in 2018.

The most important highways that pass through the region: Kharkiv-Moscow, Kharkiv-Simferopol, Kharkiv-Rostov-on-Don, Kharkiv-Poltava. The total length of highways in the past is more than 9.7 thousand km, of which 97.5% are on hard surfaces. The length of the autoshlyakh of the sovereign venue in the Kharkiv Oblast is 2343.9 km, including 617.4 km - the MITERNINI, 108.2 km - National Monalni, 639.1 km - regions, 979.2 km - Teritorialne. On highways of national importance in the region there are 242 bridges with a total length of 1316.3 linear meters. m.

Kharkiv airport serves domestic and international airlines, mainly engaged in passenger transportation.

Points of interest
The following sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.
 * Derzhprom Building
 * Pokrov monastery (Kharkiv)
 * Skovoroda museum

Sport
It has a regional federation within the Ukrainian Bandy and Rink bandy Federation.

Education

In 2020, 104,900 people aged 15-70 worked in the education sector of the Kharkiv region, or 8.7% of the total number of people employed in the region's economy.

At the end of 2020, there were 753 preschool education institutions in the region (11 more institutions compared to 2019), designed for 79.7 thousand places. The number of their pupils was 74,100 children (3,400 less than in 2019).

At the beginning of the 2020/21 academic year, there were 734 institutions of general secondary education in Kharkiv region, 258,800 students studied in them and 22,700 teachers (including part-time teachers) worked in them. In 2020, 14,300 graduates received a certificate of complete general secondary education.

At the end of 2020, there were 39 institutions of professional (vocational and technical) education in the region, in which 13,700 people studied.

At the beginning of the 2020/21 academic year, there were 55 institutions of higher education in the region, and 124,200 people studied in them. In 2020, higher education institutions of the region accepted 29,800 people to study, and graduated 44,000 specialists. Postgraduate students were trained by 55 institutions of higher education and scientific institutions, in which 3,400 postgraduate students received their education. 5.6 thousand people obtained professional preliminary education in 8 educational institutions. More than 19,000 scientific, scientific-pedagogical and pedagogical workers worked in institutions of higher and professional pre-higher education.

Notable people from Kharkiv Oblast

 * Hryhorii Skovoroda – Ukrainian philosopher (1722–1794)
 * Ilya Repin – Russian realist painter (1844–1930)
 * Élie Metchnikoff – Russian immunologist (1845–1916)
 * Alexander Potebnja – Russian-Ukrainian philosopher, linguist and panslavist activist
 * George Shevelov – Ukrainian-American linguist (1908–2002)
 * Dmytro Bahalii – Ukrainian historian
 * Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko – Ukrainian writer, journalist, and playwright (1778–1843)
 * Arkady Averchenko – Russian playwright and satirist
 * Anton Makarenko – Soviet educator, social worker and writer
 * Vasily Karazin – Ukrainian scientist
 * Lyudmila Gurchenko – Soviet and Russian actress, singer (1935–2011)

title: Kharkiv Oblast


text:
Junior Senior

Junior Senior were a Danish pop duo. The duo consisted of Jesper "Junior" Mortensen (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, drums, percussion) (born 7 February 1979 ) and Jeppe "Senior" Laursen (vocals, programming) (born 25 December 1977 ). They were well known for their 2002 single "Move Your Feet", which gained worldwide success in 2003, most notably in the United Kingdom.

Early career
Junior Senior formed in 1998 when Jesper Mortensen and Jeppe Laursen got back together after their previous band Ludo-X broke up in 1995. The band signed a deal with Danish label Crunchy Frog Records.

D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat
The band released their debut album D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat in 2002. The first single, "Move Your Feet", was one of the most played songs on Danish radio and eventually climbed the charts in over thirteen countries, including the United States, Australia, France, and the United Kingdom. The single is available on the soundtrack of the popular American television show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. "Move Your Feet" is featured on the Northern American music video game Dance Dance Revolution Extreme for the PlayStation 2. Ubisoft included the song in the Wii game, Just Dance 2. It was a featured dance. It is associated with its animated pixel art music video, as seen in the VH1 commercial for I Love the 90's: Part Deux and in the background of its Dance Dance Revolution: DDR Extreme dance. It was featured on the soundtrack of the movie, White Chicks. "Move Your Feet" appears as background music in the 2003 film Looney Tunes: Back in Action and is featured in the movie How to Eat Fried Worms (2006) as the "finishing" song before and during the end credits. In 2013, "Move Your Feet" was used in a television commercial for Google Chromebook. Kohl's Active also used this song in their 'bust a brand new move' advert (2015).

The follow-up single, "Rhythm Bandits", made the singles charts in the UK and Australia, and was included in the soundtrack of the game FIFA Football 2004.

D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat was included in several publications' "Best Albums of 2003" lists, including Rolling Stone, NME, Entertainment Weekly and Blender. The Sunday Chronicle in San Francisco rated "Move Your Feet" as the single of the year, calling it "the best song ever".

The CD features the video to "Move Your Feet" (made by designer group Shynola) and a "Making Of" as enhanced content.

The single "Shake Your Coconuts" is available on the Looney Tunes: Back in Action soundtrack, and is used as the menu music in the game Worms 3D by Team17. It was also featured in the 2004 movie Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Malcolm in the Middle's season 5 episode "Experiment". In addition, on 21 July 2017, the band Phish used the song as the kickoff for a 13-night run at Madison Square Garden dubbed The Baker's Dozen. The song coincided with free coconut donuts given to the audience.

The song "White Trash" from this album was used in the advertisement for music magazine TV show Popworld in the United Kingdom. The advert featured the two presenters of the show doing a synchronized dance routine to the song whilst wearing identical outfits.

Hey Hey My My Yo Yo
Junior Senior released their second album, Hey Hey My My Yo Yo on 24 August 2005 in Japan. It was released in the US in 2007. The first single from the album was "Itch U Can't Skratch". The track "Take My Time" features Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson of new wave band The B-52's. "Take My Time" has also been featured in the PSP video game Lumines II. Legendary Motown girl group The Velvelettes provided backing vocals on seven of the album tracks.

In February 2006 and March 2006 the band held a contest for fans to appear in a music video for their song "Can I Get Get Get". The song "Can I Get Get Get" has been used on the TV shows Ugly Betty, Cavemen, Castle, Eastbound & Down and was featured in the film What Happens in Vegas. This song was also featured on the Nordic edition of Lips as an on-disc song as well as downloadable content worldwide. The music video for this song was released on 25 July 2006.

"Hip Hop a Lula" was featured in a Sears back-to-school commercial in August 2007. It was used extensively in Network Ten Australia's advertising in 2008.

Disbandment
Mortensen and Laursen announced on their blog that they would split and pursue solo projects on 26 September 2008. Both Junior and Senior have launched new projects. In 2008, Mortensen released a 12" single called "Trust Tissue" under the moniker I Scream Ice Cream on Kitsune Records. In 2010, Mortensen formed the group MAKE OUT. Laursen began working on a debut album, which released the Big Lucky EP in May 2009.

Singles
Footnotes
 * British chart reference
 * APeaked at number 29 in France originally in 2003 but reached number 11 in a re-release in 2013

title: Junior Senior


text:
Luhansk Oblast

Luhansk Oblast (Луганська область; Луганская область), also referred to as Luhanshchyna (Луганщина), is the easternmost oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the name Voroshilovgrad Oblast until 1958 and again from 1970 to 1991. It has a population of

Important cities in Luhansk Oblast include Alchevsk, Antratsyt, Brianka, Kadiivka, Kirovsk, Krasnodon, Khrustalnyi, Luhansk, Lysychansk, Pervomaisk, Rovenky, Rubizhne, Sievierodonetsk and Sverdlovsk. All of the oblast is in the Donbas region.

In 2014, large parts of the oblast, including the capital Luhansk, came under the control of Russian-backed separatists who declared the Luhansk People's Republic, leading to a war against Ukrainian government forces. Since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the oblast has come almost entirely under Russian occupation and has been the scene of heavy fighting, which continues in some places. In late September 2022, Russia declared the annexation of the entire oblast, along with three others, though the annexation remains internationally unrecognized. As of May 2024, Ukraine is in control of 6–7% of the region, including a few settlements, such as Zolotarivka, Chervonopopivka, and Makiivka. These areas continue to see active conflict.

Geography

Luhansk Oblast is in far eastern Ukraine. Its north–south length is 250 km, and east–west width 190 km. It covers an area of 26,700 km2, 4.42% of the total area of Ukraine.

The oblast has the longest segment of Ukraine's international border with Russia among other regions (see State Border of Ukraine), consisting of 746 km. The abutting Russian oblasts are Belgorod Oblast to the north, Voronezh Oblast to the northeast, Rostov Oblast to the east. Abutting Ukrainian oblasts are Kharkiv Oblast to the west, and Donetsk Oblast to the south.

The region is located in the valley of the Siversky Donets river, which flows west to east through the oblast and splits it approximately in half. The southern portion of the region is elevated by the Donetsk Ridge, which is close to the southern border. The highest point is Mohyla Mechetna (367 m), the highest point of Donetsk Ridge. The left bank of the Siversky Donets is part of the Starobilsk Plain. To the north this transforms into the Central Russian Upland.

History
The territory was formerly part of the Wild Fields, and former administrative units in the territory of the current oblast included Sloboda Ukraine, Slavo-Serbia, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Donets Governorate and Donetsk Oblast.

Soviet Ukraine (1938–1991)

The oblast originated in 1938 as Voroshylovhrad (Russian: Voroshilovgrad) Oblast (Ворошиловградська область) after the Donetsk Oblast was split between Voroshylovhrad and Stalino (today Donetsk Oblast) oblasts. Following the Soviet invasion of Poland, Starobilsk was the location of a prisoner of war camp for Poles, who were then massacred in the Katyn massacre in 1940. After the invasion by Nazi Germany in 1941, the region came under a German military administration, due to its proximity to frontlines. It was occupied at the end of 1942 as part of Case Blue German offensive directed towards Stalingrad.

Soon after the battle of Stalingrad, the Luhansk (at that time Voroshilovgrad in honor of Kliment Voroshilov) region again became the center of military operations during the Soviet counter-offensive operation Little Saturn in the spring of 1943. In the summer of 1943, the region was liberated from the Nazi Germany Armed Forces. During the Soviet era, the Oblast bore its current name between 1958 and 1970.

In the December 1991 referendum, 83.86% of votes in the oblast were in favor of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.

Pro-Russian insurgency (2014–2022)
On 8 April 2014, following the annexation of Crimea by Russia, pro-Russian separatists occupying the Luhansk Oblast administrative building planned to declare the independence of the region as the Luhansk Parliamentary Republic, after other pro-Russian separatists declared Donetsk People's Republic in the Donetsk Oblast (7 April 2014). When the Luhansk Parliamentary Republic ceased to exist, the separatists declared the Luhansk People's Republic on 27 April 2014. They held a disputed referendum on separating from Ukraine on 11 May 2014. The legitimacy of the referendums was not recognized by any government. Ukraine does not recognize the referendum, while the EU and US said the polls were illegal and fraudulent. Subsequently, the war in Donbas began.

As a result of the war in Donbas, Luhansk insurgents control the southern third of the oblast, which includes the city of Luhansk, the region's most populous city and the capital of the oblast. Due to this, most oblast government functions have moved to Sievierodonetsk, which forces of the Government of Ukraine recaptured in July 2014. Many universities located in the occupied areas have moved to government-controlled cities such as Sievierodonetsk, Starobilsk or Rubizhne. A survey conducted in December 2014 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 5.7% of the oblast's population supported their region joining Russia, 84.1% did not support the idea, and the rest were undecided or did not respond. Insurgent-controlled areas were not polled.

Russian occupation (2022–present)
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian ground forces entered the occupied territory of Luhansk Oblast by crossing the Russian border on 22 February 2022. They invaded government-controlled territory across the line of contact and the Russian border on 24 February. As of 26 May 2022 they had occupied all but 5% of the region.

During the mid-2022 battle of Donbas, Russian troops attacked and eventually captured the cities of Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk during May and June 2022 in two of the most significant and most intense battles of the Eastern Ukraine offensive. By 3 July 2022, Russian and allied troops controlled all cities in the oblast. On 4–5 July 2022, during the international Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2022) in Lugano, Finland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic pledged to support the postwar rebuilding of the Luhansk region. On 11 September 2022, there were unconfirmed reports that Bilohorivka near Lysychansk, was recaptured. On 19 September 2022, Ukrainian forces confirmed this.

In late September 2022 an annexation referendum was held in Luhansk on joining the Russian Federation, although Ukraine along with the United Nations and most observers declared the referendum to be illegitimate and fraudulent. Following the staged victory in the voting, the region and the so-called Luhansk People's Republic were absorbed into Russia. The United Nations General Assembly subsequently passed a resolution calling on countries not to recognise what it described as an "attempted illegal annexation" and demanded that Russia "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw".

, nearly all of the oblast is occupied by Russia, which claims the oblast as the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), a self-declared state turned Russian federal subject. The war in Donbas and the subsequent 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine saw heavy fighting in the oblast, with Sievierodonetsk captured in June by Russian and LPR forces after an assault lasting several weeks, and the oblast's last major settlement under Ukrainian control, Lysychansk, captured by Russian and Russia-backed forces on 2 July. The next day, Russia's Minister of Defence announced that the entire territory of the oblast had been "liberated", but three weeks later the governor of the oblast reported heavy fighting was still ongoing. On 4 September, Ukrainian forces launched a counteroffensive in eastern Ukraine and recaptured small parts of Donetsk Oblast and, on 1 October, Lyman. Ukrainian forces also pushed through the stalemate at the Luhansk Oblast border and, most notably, recaptured Bilohirivka while engaging LPR forces in Lysychansk. Since then, there has been continued fighting in the western parts of the region in a renewed Luhansk Oblast campaign.

Administrative subdivisions
Like the other provinces of Ukraine, Luhansk Oblast has a double jurisdiction. The oblast is predominantly administrated by the Luhansk Oblast State Administration, headed by the governor of the oblast, who is appointed by the President of Ukraine. The province has a representative body, the provincial council, which is headed by its chairman and elected by popular vote.

The province is primarily divided into 18 raions (districts), and 37 cities, including 14 cities of regional significance. The administrative center is Luhansk. These raions are listed below with their areas and populations.

The province's secondary division consists of various municipalities. Those municipalities may consist of one or more populated places. The municipalities are administratively subordinate to the raion in which they are located, with the exception of 14 cities subordinated directly to the oblast. The city of Luhansk is subdivided into its own four city-districts (boroughs).

All subdivisions are governed by their respective councils (radas).

Cities

 * regional municipalities

Demographics

The population is largely Russian-speaking, although ethnic Ukrainians constitute a majority (58.0%). Among the minorities are native Russians (39.1%), Belarusians (0.8%), and others (1.4%). Ukrainians constitute the majority in all raions except for Stanytsia-Luhanska Raion and Krasnodon Raion, both of which are east of Luhansk. Ethnic Russians also constitute the majority in regionally significant cities, such as Krasnodon, Sverdlovsk, Khrustalnyi and Kadiivka.

In the 2001 Ukrainian Census, more than 68.8% of the population considered themselves Russian speakers, while 30.0% considered themselves Ukrainian speakers. The Russophone population predominates in the southern portion of the region and around the city of Luhansk, while the northern region is less populated, mostly agricultural and Ukrainophone.

Its population (as of 2004) of 2,461,506 constitutes 5.13% of the overall Ukrainian population. The Luhansk Oblast rates fifth in Ukraine by the number of its inhabitants, having an average population density of 90.28/km2. About 87% of the population lives in urban areas, while the remaining 13% reside in agricultural areas. According to the national census, 54% of the population are Ukrainians and 42% are Russians.

Age structure
 * 0–14 years: 12.3% (male 143,272/female 134,803)
 * 15–64 years: 71.4% (male 768,544/female 838,639)
 * 65 years and over: 16.3% (male 117,782/female 248,914) (2013 official)

Median age
 * total: 42.1 years
 * male: 38.2 years
 * female: 45.9 years (2013 official)

Economy
Economically the region is connected with the Donets Basin.

Extractive industry
 * Lysychansk Coal
 * Luhansk Coal
 * Sverdlov Anthracite
 * Anthracite
 * Pervomaisk Coal
 * Rovenky Anthracite
 * Donbas Anthracite

Machine building
 * Luhanskteplovoz
 * Khrustalnyi Machine building Factory
 * Pervomaisk Power mechanical Factory
 * Stakhanov Railcar Plant

Metallurgy
 * Alchevsk Metallurgy Combine
 * Alchevsk Coke-chemical Factory

Chemicals and oil refining
 * Sievierodonetsk Association Azot
 * Association Skloplastyk
 * Lysynchansk Oil Refinery

Agriculture

The oblast has post industrial sites which run off building material into surrounding land. Yakymchuk 2018 finds feral stands of Triticum aestivum have colonised several of these sites.

 * Derkul Horse Factory

Power generation
 * Sievierodonetsk Power Station
 * Luhansk power station
 * Shteriv power station (decommissioned in 1983)

Transport
Through the region pass two major European routes and. There are 24 Russo-Ukrainian international border checkpoints of various entry.
 * within the Luhansk Oblast uses highway that starts from Debaltseve (Donetsk Oblast), passes through the city of Khrustalnyi, and enters the Russian Federation at the border checkpoint "Dovzhansky" (settlement Dovzhanske, town of Biryukove).
 * within the Luhansk Oblast uses highway that starts from Debaltseve (Donetsk Oblast), passes through the city of Luhansk, and enters the Russian Federation at the border checkpoint "Izvaryne" (town of Izvaryne).
 * There is also another highway that runs from north to south and connects Starobilsk, Luhansk, and Khrustalnyi with Donetsk.

Rail transportation is administered by the Donetsk Railway.

There is also its regional airport Luhansk International Airport with its own carrier.

Education

 * East Ukrainian National University
 * University of Luhansk
 * Donbas State Technical University

Specialized
 * Luhansk State Medical University
 * Luhansk National Agrarian University
 * Luhansk State University of Internal Affairs

Points of interest
The following sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.
 * The house of Dal's birth (Luhansk)
 * Fighters for the Revolution monument
 * Derkul horse factory
 * Royal Rocks (Luhansk State Preserve)
 * Chasm Steppe (Sverdlovsk Raion)
 * Ram Foreheads (limestone rocks)
 * Mścichowski Palace (Палац Мсциховського)

Notable people

 * Oleksiy Danilov (born 1962), Ukrainian politician
 * Dov Markus (born 1946), Israeli-American soccer player, born in Ukraine.
 * Serhiy Zhadan (born 1974), writer.

title: Luhansk Oblast


text:
Chernihiv Oblast

Chernihiv Oblast (Чернігівська область), also referred to as Chernihivshchyna (Чернігівщина), is an oblast (province) in northern Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv. Within the oblast are 1,511 settlements. Population:

Geography
The total area of the province is around 31,900 km².

On the west, the oblast is bordered by the Kyiv Reservoir of the Dnieper River and Kyiv Oblast, which has a enclave known as Slavutych, which was created from Chernihiv Oblast for the inhabitants of Chernobyl following the Chernobyl disaster. It is bordered by Sumy Oblast to the east and Poltava Oblast to the south. The northern border of the oblast is part of Ukraine's international border abutting Belarus's Gomel Region in the north-west and the Russian Bryansk Oblast in the north-east, respectively.

The oblast is bisected into northern and southern sections by the Desna River, which enters the Dnieper just north of the Kyiv city limits.

History
Chernihiv Oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on 15 October 1932.

The capital city of Chernihiv has known human settlement for over 2,000 years, according to archaeological excavations. Chernihiv Oblast comprises a very important historical region, notable as early as the Kievan Rus' period, when the cities of Chernihiv and Novhorod-Siverskyi were frequently mentioned. The city of Chernihiv was the second most important Ukrainian city during the Rus' period of Ukrainian history, often serving as a major regional capital. Danylo of Chernihiv wrote of his pilgrimage to Jerusalem during this era. The region at various times was ruled by the Kievan Rus', Mongol Empire, Lithuania, Poland and Russia. Numerous tragic events have taken place in the region, such as the Battle of Kruty and the Koriukivka massacre. During World War II, the province was occupied by Germany in 1941–1943.

During the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Chernihiv Oblast was one of the first regions where Russian and Ukrainian forces clashed. On 4 April 2022 Governor of Chernihiv Oblast Vyacheslav Chaus stated that the Russian military had left Chernihiv Oblast, but that it had planted mines in many areas. On 4 and 5 April 2022 units of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine retook control of their border crossing in Chernihiv Oblast.

The oblast is located in the historic regions of Left-bank Ukraine and Polesia.

Administrative subdivisions

Since July 2020, Cherkasy Oblast is administratively subdivided into 5 raions (districts).

The following data incorporates the number of each type of administrative divisions of Chernihiv Oblast:

 * Administrative Centre - 1 (Chernihiv)
 * Raions — 5;
 * Settlements — 1534, including:
 * Villages — 1489;
 * Cities/Towns — 45, including:
 * Urban-type settlement — 30;
 * Cities — 15
 * Silradas — 525.

The local administration of the oblast is controlled by the Chernihiv Oblast Rada. The governor of the oblast is the Chernihiv Oblast Rada speaker, appointed by the President of Ukraine.

Important cities

 * Main cities
 * 1) Coat of Arms of Chernihiv.svg Chernihiv (294,727)
 * 2) Nizhyn gerb.png Nizhyn (72,422)
 * 3) Priluky.png Pryluky (58,456)
 * 4) Bahmach gerb.svg Bakhmach (18,798)
 * 5) Nosivka new gerb.gif Nosivka (14,185)
 * 6) Novhorod-Siverskiy herb.png Novhorod-Siverskyi (14,025)
 * Other cities
 * Borzna (historical city)
 * Kozelets (historical city)
 * Liubech (historical city of Medieval Ages)
 * Baturyn (Hetman residence and fort)

Raions
The Slavutych municipality is located in Chernihiv Oblast on the eastern bank of the Dnieper, but officially belongs to Kyiv Oblast (being an administrative exclave).

Demographics
The current estimated population of the oblast is around 976,701 (as of 2021).

The population of the oblast is predominantly Ukrainian, with minority Belarusian and Russian populations concentrated in the northern districts.

The province has experienced long-term population decline. The population has fallen 37% from the 1959 figure of 1,554,000, the steepest decline of any Ukrainian oblast. It has the lowest population density in the country.

Age structure

 * 0-14 years: 12.9% (male 70,680/female 67,487)
 * 15-64 years: 68.4% (male 352,230/female 378,864)
 * 65 years and over: 18.7% (male 61,722/female 138,277) (2013 official)

Median age

 * total: 42.8 years
 * male: 38.5 years
 * female: 46.9 years (2013 official)

Industry
The economy of Chernihiv Oblast is centered around petroleum and natural gas extraction, transport, machinery, tobacco and the textile industry. A major tobacco factory is situated in Pryluky. The cities of Bakhmach and Nizhyn are important railway junctions on the route from Russia and Belarus to Southeast Europe. There are notable machinery and electronics industries in Chernihiv. Chernihiv also has a brewery producing beer under the name "Chernihivske".

Religion
The religion among believers in the oblast is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox. A substantial percentage of the population is atheist. Small minorities of Ukrainian Catholics, Roman Catholics (including the descendants of earlier Polish colonists), and recent converts to Protestantism are also present.

Culture and tourist attractions
There are a few outstanding historical Orthodox churches and buildings in Chernihiv, Novhorod-Siverskyi, Liubech, Nizhyn and Kozelets. Nizhyn is an historical Cossack city and home to a university.
 * Saint Anthony's Caves
 * Churches of Chernihiv, including Saviour-Transfiguration Cathedral, Boris and Gleb Cathedral, Yeletsky Monastery, Trinity Monastery, St. Catherine's Church, Piatnytska Church
 * Hustynskyi monastery
 * Knyazhyi hrad
 * Kachanivka Palace and Sokyryntsi Palace

The Chernihiv region was famous for its specific style of folk icon-painting. Brightness and realistic depictions of the saints were typical for it, with red and hot yellow paints used. The icons were decorated by flowers in a manner reminiscent of Slavonic pre-Christian traditions. The icons from the Chernihiv region were spread outside its territory. Many of them are preserved in the Museum of Ukrainian home icons of the Radomysl Castle.

Nomenclature
Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (обласний центр, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective centre city: Chernihiv is the centre of the Chernihivs’ka oblast’ (Chernihiv Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Chernihiv Oblast, Chernihivshchyna.

title: Chernihiv Oblast