Dnipropetrovsk is Ukraine's fourth largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is 391 kilometres (243 mi) southeast of the capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central part of Ukraine. Dnipropetrovsk is the administrative centre of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Administratively, it is incorporated as a city of oblast significance, the centre of Dnipropetrovsk municipality and extraterritorial administrative centre of Dnipropetrovsk Raion. Population: 997,754 (2013 est.).
Known as Ekaterinoslav until 1925, the city was formally inaugurated by the Russian Empress Catherine the Great in 1787 as the administrative centre of the newly acquired vast territories of imperial New Russia, including those ceded to Russia by the Ottoman Empire under the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774). The city was originally envisioned as the Russian Empire's third capital city, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg. A vital industrial centre of Soviet Ukraine, Dnipropetrovsk was one of the key centres of the nuclear, arms, and space industries of the Soviet Union. In particular, it is home to the Yuzhmash, a major space and ballistic missile design bureau and manufacturer. Because of its military industry, Dnipropetrovsk was a closed city until the 1990s. On 19 May 2016 the official name of the city was changed to Dnipro.
Dnipropetrovsk is a powerhouse of Ukraine's business and politics as the native city for many of the country's most important figures. Ukraine's politics are still defined by the legacies of Leonid Kuchma, Pavlo Lazarenko and Yuliya Tymoshenko whose intermingled careers started in Dnipropetrovsk.
The city is built mainly upon both banks of the Dnieper, at its confluence with the Samara River. In the loop of a major meander, the Dnieper changes its course from the north west to continue southerly and later south-westerly through Ukraine, ultimately passing Kherson, where it finally flows into the Black Sea.
Nowadays both the north and south banks play home to a range of industrial enterprises and manufacturing plants. The airport is located about 15 km (9.32 mi) south-east of the city.
The centre of the city is constructed on the right bank which is part of the Dnieper Upland, while the left bank is part of the Dnieper Lowland. The old town is situated atop a hill that is formed as a result of the river's change of course to the south. The change of river's direction is caused by its proximity to the Azov Upland located southeast of the city.
One of the city's streets, Akademik Yavornitskyi Prospekt, links the two major architectural ensembles of the city and constitutes an important thoroughfare through the centre, which along with various suburban radial road systems, provides some of the area's most vital transport links for both suburban and inter-urban travel.
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