There too is the cathedral of St. Volodymyr (still in use as a church), built in 1862–96 in Byzantine style and containing impressive paintings by Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Vrubel, and other artists. Notable among the many statues in central Kyiv are those that commemorate the Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. Every attempt to dispute Soviet rule was harshly oppressed, especially concerning democracy, Ukrainian SSR’s self-government, and ethnic-religious problems. Campaigns against “Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism” and “Western influence” in Kiev’s educational and scientific institutions were mounted repeatedly. Due to limited career prospects in Kyiv, Moscow became a preferable life destination for many Kievans (and Ukrainians as a whole), especially for artists and other creative intellectuals. Babi Yar, a location in Kiev, became a site of one of the most infamous Nazi WWII war crimes.

A number of factors combine to make Kyiv an attractive urban centre—the site, with its sharply contrasted relief and wide views across the Dnieper, the abundance of greenery in and around the city, and the many buildings of historical interest and beauty. A port on the Dnieper (Dnipro) River and a large railroad junction, it is a city with an ancient and proud history. The independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union in 1991 renewed Kyiv’s status as a major European capital. More than a dozen military schools and academies were established here, also specializing in high-tech warfare (see also Soviet education). This created a labor force demand which caused migration from rural areas of both Ukraine and Russia.

Other Time Zones with UTC +2

The Head of City State Administration – the city’s governor – is appointed by the president of Ukraine, while the Head of the City Council – the mayor of Kyiv – is elected by local popular vote. Within the city the Dnieper River forms a branching system of tributaries, isles, and harbors within the city limits. The city is close to the mouth of the Desna River and the Kyiv Reservoir in the north, and the Kaniv Reservoir in the south. Both the Dnieper and Desna rivers are navigable at Kyiv, although regulated by the reservoir shipping locks and limited by winter freeze-over. Kyiv recovered economically in the post-war years, becoming once again the third-most important city of the Soviet Union. The catastrophic accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 occurred only 100 km (62 mi) north of the city.

Among important buildings on the street is that of the city council, where the elected deputies hold their meetings. The city stands on the Dnieper River just below its confluence with the Desna and 591 miles (951 km) from its mouth in the Black Sea. The original location was on the high and steep right (western) bank, which rises above the river in an imposing line of bluffs culminating in Batyyeva Hill, 330 feet (100 metres) above mean river level.

Kyiv 14 Day Extended Forecast

Starting in 1494, however, the city’s local autonomy (Magdeburg rights) gradually increased in a series of acts of Lithuanian Grand Dukes and Polish Kings, finalized by a charter granted by Sigismund I the Old in 1516. Are you about to make an International long distance phone call to Kiev, Ukraine? We work hard to make certain the time and information presented here on WorldTimeServer.com is accurate and do our best to keep up with Daylight Saving Time rules and Time Zone changes for every country, not just the changes that affect United Kingdom. The national government has delegated responsibility for water and sanitation services to local authorities.[199] Kyivvodokanal [uk] is a private joint-stock company that provides such services to Kyiv. The length of water supply networks is 4231 km, of which 1798 km are dilapidated.

• In 1632, Peter Mogila, the Orthodox Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia established the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, an educational institution aimed to preserve and develop Ukrainian culture and Orthodox faith despite Polish Catholic oppression.
• The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War is a memorial complex commemorating the Eastern Front of World War II in the hills on the right-bank of the Dnieper in Pechersk.
• As low priority was given to housing during the period of Joseph Stalin’s rule, the greater part of these suburbs was built after the Soviet leader’s death in 1953.
• In 1834, the Russian government established Saint Vladimir University, now called the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv after the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861).

This precipitous and wooded bank, topped by the golden domes and spires of churches and bell towers and by high-rise apartment buildings, makes the city an attractive and impressive sight from across the Dnieper. Since World War II, Kyiv has extended onto the wide, low, and flat floodplain on the left (eastern) bank. In 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a Russian offensive attempted to surround and besiege the capital city, and multiple teams of Russian soldiers and mercenaries entered the city to assassinate president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in what was widely reported to be an attempt at regime change. After Russian forces’ withdrawal, evidence was discovered of systematic war crimes, especially in the satellite city of Bucha. However, despite the withdrawal of the Russian forces from Kyiv Oblast, attacks on Kyiv continued, although they did significantly decline.

Universal Time Coordinated GMT / UTC

The average January temperature is 21 °F (−6 °C), and winter days with temperatures above freezing are not uncommon. In cold spells with a northerly or northeasterly airstream, temperatures may drop sharply, and an absolute minimum of −27 °F (−33 °C) has been recorded.

At the southern end of this district is the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves), founded in the mid-11th century, one of the most famous and important monasteries in the history of the region. It was at the lavra that the monk Nestor helped compile the earliest surviving chronicle of the East Slavic state of Rus. The Cathedral of the Assumption (inside the walls of the monastery), blown up in 1941 under circumstances that remain uncertain, has been completely rebuilt.

Kievan Rus’

Following the gradual loss of Ukraine’s autonomy and suppression of the local Ukrainian and Polish cultures, Kiev experienced growing Russification in the 19th century by means of Russian migration, administrative actions (such as the Valuev Circular of 1863), and social modernization. At the beginning of the 20th century, the city was dominated by Russian-speaking population, while the lower classes retained Ukrainian folk culture to a significant extent. The Varangians (Vikings) seized Kyiv in the mid-9th century, and, as in Novgorod to the north, a Slavo-Varangian ruling elite developed. Kyiv, us dating agency with its good defensive site on the high river bluffs and as the centre of a rich agricultural area and a group of early Slavic towns, began to gain importance. About 882 Oleg (Oleh), the ruler of Novgorod, captured Kyiv and made it his capital, the centre of the first East Slavic state, Kyivan (Kievan) Rus. The town flourished, chiefly through trade along the Dnieper going south to the Byzantine Empire and north over portages to the rivers flowing to the Baltic Sea—the so-called “road from the Varangians to the Greeks,” or “water road.” Trade also went to the Caspian Sea and Central Asia.

The left bank is linked to the main part of Kyiv by a railway bridge and by the imposing Ye. O. Paton road bridge, which is 4,920 feet (1,500 metres) long and named for its designer.

Time zone and DST transitions in Kyiv, Ukraine

Among them are ibn Rustah, Abu Sa’id Gardezi, and an author of the Hudud al-‘Alam. The texts of those authors were discovered by Russian orientalist Alexander Tumansky. The etymology of Sambat has been argued by many historians, including Grigoriy Ilyinsky, Nikolay Karamzin, Jan Potocki, Nikolay Lambin, Joachim Lelewel, and Guðbrandur Vigfússon.

• However, archaeological evidence suggests that the city was founded in the 6th or 7th century.
• Kyiv hosts many universities, the major ones being Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University,[181] the National Technical University “Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”,[182] Kyiv-Mohyla Academy[183] and the Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics.
• Intersecting Khreshchatyk at right angles is the wide poplar-lined Boulevard of Taras Shevchenko, on which stands the university with its eye-catching red-washed walls.
• Both the Dnieper and Desna rivers are navigable at Kyiv, although regulated by the reservoir shipping locks and limited by winter freeze-over.

During this time, numerous historic churches were destroyed or vandalized and the clergy repressed. In 1925, the first public buses ran on city streets, and ten years later the first trolleybuses were introduced. In 1927 the suburban areas of Darnytsia, Lanky, Chokolivka, and Mykilska Slobidka were included into the city. In 1932, the city became the administrative center of newly created Kyiv Oblast. At the city’s southern outskirts, near the historic Pyrohiv village, there is an outdoor museum, officially called the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine It has an area of 1.5 square kilometres (1 sq mi).

Kyiv time

During the 1980 Summer Olympics held in the Soviet Union, Kyiv held the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament at its Olympic Stadium, which was reconstructed specially for the event. Other notable sport stadiums/sport complexes in Kyiv include the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, the Palace of Sports, among many others. Kyiv is known as a green city with two botanical gardens and numerous large and small parks. The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War is here, which offers both indoor and outdoor displays of military history and equipment surrounded by verdant hills overlooking the Dnieper river. Kyiv’s most famous historical architecture complexes are the St. Sophia Cathedral and the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves), which are recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

All along the steep riverbank, fronting the Upper Town and Pecherskyy district, an attractively landscaped park has been laid out overlooking the Dnieper. With the views it affords, the park forms one of the most striking features of the city. It contains an open-air theatre, sports stadium, and restaurant, and a funicular railway climbs the 300-foot (90-metre) slope.

In popular culture

The town was famed for its art, the mosaics and frescoes of its churches, its craftsmanship in silver, and the quality of many of its manufactures. One of Europe’s major cities, Kyiv established diplomatic relations with the Byzantine Empire, England, France, Sweden, and other countries. The Dnieper River naturally divides Kyiv into the Right Bank and the Left Bank areas. Historically on the western right bank of the river, the city expanded into the left bank only in the 20th century. Most of Kyiv’s attractions as well as the majority of business and governmental institutions are on the right bank.

Switching to Russian, as well as choosing to send children to Russian schools was expedient for educational and career advancement. The city was frequently attacked by Crimean Tatars and in 1482 was destroyed again by Crimean Khan Meñli I Giray. Despite its diminished political significance, the city still played an important role as seat of the local Orthodox metropolitan.