Staromlynivka

Village in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine

Staromlynivka Старомлинівка
Village
An old Greek house
Coat of arms
47°41′51″N 36°49′32″E / 47.69750°N 36.82556°E / 47.69750; 36.82556
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Donetsk Oblast
Raion	Volnovakha Raion
Hromada	Staromlynivka rural hromada
Founded	1779
Area
• Total	7.302 km² (2.819 sq mi)
Elevation	106 m (348 ft)
Population (01.01.2014)
• Total	2,635
• Density	360/km² (930/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code	85552
Area code	+380 6243

Staromlynivka (Ukrainian: Старомлинівка; Russian: Старомлыновка, romanized: Staromlynovka) is a village in Volnovakha Raion (district) in Donetsk Oblast of eastern Ukraine, located 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) south of the town of Velyka Novosilka.^[1] Before 1946, it was known as Staryi Kermenchyk (Ukrainian: Старий Керменчик; Russian: Старый Керменчик, romanized: Stary Kermenchik).^[2] It is located in the floodplain of the Mokri Yaly river.^[3]

It is the administrative center of Staromlynivka rural hromada, one of the hromadas (communities) of Ukraine.^[4]

History

The village was founded as Staryi Kermenchyk in 1779 by Greeks from Crimea.^[3] The "Kermenchyk" part of the name comes from the word Т'ерменчик (Ťermenčik) from the Urum language,^[5] a Turkic language spoken by some Pontic Greeks.^[6] The word means "small mill", and the modern name "Staromlynivka" is a calque of this Urum-derived name into Ukrainian.^[3]

In 1886, Staryi Kermenchyk was recorded as being the center of Staro-Kermenchitska volost [uk] inside Mariupol uyezd. The volost contained one other village, Krasna Poliana.^[7] In the 20th century, Staryi Kermenchyk was a scene of fighting during the Russian Civil War.^[3] It was the center of Staromlynivka Raion [ru] (known as Staro-Kermenchik Raion until 1946) from 1923 until 1959.^{[citation needed]}

By 1926, Staryi Kermenchyk still had one of the largest Greek communities in Ukraine, as part of the larger community in the area between Mariupol and Donetsk.^[8] It was renamed to Staromlynivka in 1946.^[2] In May 1964, a local history museum was opened in Staromlynivka.^[3]

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

The village was captured by Russian forces in March 13, 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[9] During the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian-installed occupation official Vladimir Rogov reported that Ukraine was aiming to take back control of the town.^[10]

Demographics

The settlement had 3,373 inhabitants in 2001. The native language distribution as of the Ukrainian Census of the same year was:^[11]

Ukrainian: 16.04%
Russian: 82.12%
Greek: 0.8%
Armenian: 0.24%
Belarusian: 0.15%
Moldovan (Romanian): 0.03%

Gallery

An exhibition in the local history museum
Gateway of the local history museum
An old Greek house

References

^ Karolina Hird; George Barros; Grace Mappes; Nicole Wolkov; Mason Clark; Fredrick W. Kagan (8 June 2023). "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 8, 2023". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
^ ^a ^b Указ Президії Верховної Ради УРСР від 7.6.1946 «Про збереження історичних найменувань та уточнення … назв … Сталінської області» (in Ukrainian). 7 June 1946 – via Wikisource.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Lyakh, R. D.; Temyr, S. K. "Старомлинівка, Великоновосілківський Район, Донецька Область". The History of Cities and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR (in Ukrainian).
^ "Старомлинівська громада - Донецька область". gromada.info. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
^ Греки Приазов'я: Етнонаціональні Процеси В Аспекті Трансформації Традиційної Культури (Кінець Хvііі – Початок Ххі Століття) (PDF) (Thesis) (in Ukrainian). Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. p. 113. Так, на правобережжі р. Кальміуса греки-переселенці з Криму заснували [...] Керменчик – Т'ерменчик (урум.)
^ Stavros, Skopeteas (2016). "The Caucasian Urums and the Urum language/Kafkasya Urumları ve Urum Dili". Handbook of Endangered Turkic Languages.
^ Balukhtina, Olena Nikolaevna. "ГОСПОДАРЧО-МАЙНОВИЙ РЕСУРС ПРАВОСЛАВНОЇ ЦЕРКВИ В ДРУГІЙ ПОЛОВИНІ XIX СТОЛІТТЯ – 1917 р. (НА МАТЕРІАЛАХ ПІВДНЯ УКРАЇНИ)" (PDF). Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. p. 296. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
^ "Greeks". Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
^ Mason Clark; George Barros; Kateryna Stepanenko (13 March 2022). "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 13". criticalthreats.org. Retrieved 27 October 2022. The Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that Russian forces captured Staromlynivka, Yevhenivka, Pavlivka, and Yegorivka as of noon local time on March 13.
^ "Ukraine forces seek to pierce Russian lines in south, Russia-installed official". Reuters. 13 August 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
^ "Офіційна сторінка Всеукраїнського перепису населення | Банк даних" [All-Ukrainian population census | Database]. ukrcensus.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 27 October 2022.