Ukrainian historical regions


A list of the various regions of Ukraine and/or inhabited by Ukrainians and their ancestors throughout history.

Main historical regions

Traditional regions

The traditional names of the regions of Ukraine are important geographic, historical, and ethnographic identifiers.
Regions historically inhabited by Ukrainians, which are partly or wholly outside modern Ukraine:
Geopolitical, historical, and cultural factors play a role in assigning different areas of Ukraine to semi-official regions. The map on the right shows the approximate locations of some broad-brush regions. The terms "West Ukraine", "East Ukraine", "South Ukraine" and "Central Ukraine" occur in common usage. There is no clear definition of the boundaries of such regions, but rather a general reference. Lists of what may constitute such regions might include:
Other terms are rarely used - such as "South-West Ukraine", which can denote either Transcarpathia, or Budjak. Sometimes the term "South-Eastern Ukraine" is used to define both regions of the Southern and Eastern Ukraine. Due to the shape of the country, in narrow definition, term "Northern Ukraine" is often used to denote either the bulge of Chernihiv/Sumy Oblasts or, in broader terms, the whole of Polesia. "North-western Ukraine" almost exclusively refers to the historic region of Volhynia. This makes the term "North-Eastern Ukraine" rarest of them all - it is either used as synonym for the narrow definition of Northern Ukraine, or as synonym for Sloboda Ukraine.

Historical Ukrainian states