Krasnoperekopsk

Krasnoperekopsk [in Ukrainian, Красноперекопськ; in Russian, Красноперекопск] or Krasnoperekopske [Красноперекопське] or, since 12 May 2016 as part of the Ukrainian government de-communization effort, Yany Kapu (in Crimean Tatar script Yañı Qapu). See Google Map; EU map: VII-14. A city (2021 pop 25,569) and eponymous raion center in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (the raion was re-named Perekop on 12 May 2016 as part of the Ukrainian government de-communization). It is located in the northern Crimean Peninsula, at the southern end of the Perekop Isthmus, on the Kherson–Dzhankoi railway line with its railway station, on the Kherson–Dzhankoi–Kerch (E97) highway, alongside the North Crimean Canal.

History. The vicinity has remains of Neolithic settlements, Bronze Age, Scythian-Sarmatian kurhans, and archeological remains from the Middle Ages. The city was founded in 1932 as the industrial settlement called Bromzavod of the Perekop Bromine Factory on the south shore of Stare Lake (of the nine Perekop lakes) which contains salts of bromine, nitrium, and potassium. In 1936 the worker settlement was re-named Krasno-Perekopsk in honor of the Red Army fighters who stormed Perekop in November 1920. By 1939 its population reached 1,873.

During the Second World War the plant was preemptively evacuated; the town was a site of intense battles (October 1941) and was then occupied by the Germans (30 October 1941 to 11 April 1944). Following de-occupation, all Crimean Tatars were deported during Joseph Stalin’s mass deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944.

After post-war return of the plant and its workers and recovery within the Ukrainian SSR, the town’s population rose by 1959 to 4,169. Growth was also spurred because the town hosted the management for the building of the North Crimean Canal (1961–66). In 1964 the name was de-hyphenated to Krasnoperekopsk and the town promoted to city status in 1966. As more industrial plants were built in the city, its population grew to 25,584 (1979) and 31,143 (1989).

Following the 1991 Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence, religious communities emerged and opened their places of worship. Despite economic hardships, the city profited as the center of the North-Crimean experimental economic zone ‘Syvash’ (est 1995) for attracting direct foreign investment. Even so, with ageing population, the city’s growth stopped and then began to decline: 32,300 (1992), 31,800 (1998), 31,023 (2001), 30,282 (2009), 29,815 (1 January 2014). The ethnic composition of the city’s population in 2001 was (in percent) mainly Russian (50.9) and Ukrainian (40.9), with a growing return of Crimean Tatars (3.0), as well as Koreans (1.4), Belarusians (1.2), Tatars (0.5), and others (2.1).

Following the Russian Federation’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars were intimidated, with some leaving for mainland Ukraine while others masking their identity. The special census in September 2014 counted 26,268, down from the January estimate of 29,815. The declared ethnicity was (in percent): Russian (57.3), Ukrainian (28.9), Tatars (2.5), Crimean Tatars (1.8), Koreans (1.5), Belarusians (0.9), others (1.8), and those who refused to provide their ethnic identity (5.3). Its population continued to decline: 25,769 (2017), 25,569 (2021).

Economy. The main enterprises in the city are: 1) the ‘Brom’ joint-stock company (formerly the Perekop Bromine Factory, est 1932, maker of bromine and bromine-based inorganic and organic compounds, 2) the ‘Crimean Soda Plant’ (est 1967, maker of sodium carbonate), and 3) the ‘Polivtor’ joint-stock company (since 2007, maker of polyethylene pipes of various dimensions). Machine-building is represented by ‘UKsnab’ joint stock company (since 1998, maker of small refrigerators for beer). Supporting construction are two reinforced concrete plants and a panel-making plant for housing. Food processing includes a cannery and a dairy.

Employment includes the administration of the city and raion offices, the construction and management of factories and the North Crimean Canal. The city has 5 schools, a music school, a youth creativity center, and a branch of the Crimean Institute of Economics and Law.

Commercial activity includes a market, shops and access to 7 bank branches. There is the city hospital and a clinic.

Culture. Despite the large component of ethnic Ukrainians in the city, the dominant culture was Sovietized and Russianized. Only after 1991 the cultural institutions began to develop a more inclusive profile. The city’s regional studies museum (est 1957) featuring the Red Army military glory in 1920 and the Second World War battles at Perekop was enriched with artefacts from the Neolithic Period and Bronze Age obtained from archeological work during construction of the North Crimean Canal (1964-67) and expanded to 3 rooms; since 1991 ethnographic materials on the Crimean Tatars, Russians, and Ukrainians were added. Its Cultural Center (built in 1972), which hosted 11 choir and dance groups (some of them acclaimed) was restored by Dmytro Firtash (owner of the Crimean Soda Plant) in 2012, doubling its capacity.

The city’s main newspaper is Perekop (est 1933, in Russian); there is a re-transmission tower with television and radio programs.

Home sports teams include the ‘Krymsoda’ volleyball team (since 1992 in the Super League of Ukraine until 2014) and the ‘Khimik’ football team (est 1950, played in the championship of the Crimea).

Organized religious communities emerged, eight managing to build their houses of worship. They were: 1) the Assumption Church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (in fact, Russian Orthodox church, built in a central location, 2000–11); 2) the Saint Pantaleon the Healer Orthodox Church; 3) the Love of Christ Protestant Church; 4) the Baptist Church; 5) the Korean Church of Evangelist Christian Baptists; and 6) the Seventh Day Adventists Church. The Crimean Tatars were successful in building their 7) Nariman Osman mosque (opened in 2011). The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate (now Orthodox Church of Ukraine) established its parish in honor of the Holy Spirit in the city, but was not successful in getting its church built; neither were the faithful of the Ukrainian Catholic church nor the Jews.

The main monuments in the city are to: 1) the heroes of the three ‘stormings’ of Perekop [1920, 1944, 1963], and 2) the memorial to the Soviet soldiers who died during the Second World War; smaller monuments are to 3) the soldiers who fought in Afghanistan, 4) the victims of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, and 5) the victims of deportation. Other monuments include 1) the physio-chemist, Prof. M. Kurnakov and 2) General V. Margelov, as well as the pre-1991 obligatory 3) Vladimir Lenin and 4) Mikhail Frunze.

City Plan. On a map, the municipal area (22.4 sq km) forms an irregular triangle, with a base in the north along the south shore of Stare Lake (5 km), its SW side along the highway and railway lines (6 km), and its east side along the North Crimean Canal (5.3 km); it has two protrusions: in the east, encompassing a water reservoir formed by damming part of Lake Krasne (3.8 by 1.8 km), and in the south, a short strip (2 by 1 km) SE along the canal.

There are 7 rural settlements in the immediate proximity to the city. In clockwise direction, to the NE at the Lake Krasne dam, is Proletarka; S of it and the water reservoir protrusion, on the SE border of the city and E of the canal is Tankove; S of Tankove and the protrusion along the canal is Ishun; W of it, at Chatyrlyk River flowing into Karkinit Bay, is Novorybatske; N of it, near the shore of Karkinit Bay and abutting the west side of the city is Sovkhozne; NW of it, on the SW side of the highway, is Tavriiske; and across the highway, N of the city and on the N shore of Stare Stare is Pochetne.

Within the city, its land use shares (approximate area in percent of the 22.4 sq km) include: industrial (26), combined residential, commercial, institutional, and parks (25), water reservoir (24) cottage gardens (15) and right of ways for the canal, power utilities and transportation (10).

There are two industrial areas in the city. In the north, along the south shore of Stare Lake, are the bromine and soda plants, serviced by railway spurs from the main line in the west. In the southwest, on the west side of the main line, are the other factories, serviced by their rail spurs.

The city’s grid street pattern is aligned mostly with the SE to NW highway and railway, except for a section in the SE of the city with a more N-S and E-W orientation. The main thoroughfare (highway E 97 or M 17) is Tavriia Street, passing through the SW side of the city. Near its southern end is the city’s railway station (SW side). At Kalinin Street is the city’s bus depot, and behind it (NW side of Kalinin Street) the city market and (SE side) some stores, a bank and other services.

The city center is located about 0.6 km NE from the bus depot. It hosts city hall, its culture center, and behind them, the city’s central park; the main post office, the courthouse, the Assumption Church and the fire hall are nearby; from Tavriia Street the city center may be accessed by Kalinin Street or, further north, Chapaiev Street, which form, respectively, the southern and northern limits of the central park; the western limit of the park, on which the city hall and culture center also front with their large square, is Mendeleev Street; the eastern limit is Michurin Street. Between the two municipal buildings, extending E into the central park is a concourse with monuments, including to the heroes of the 3 ‘stormings’ of Perekop.

Neighborhoods with multi-story apartments occupy by area about 25 percent of all residential neighborhoods. They line the NE side of Tavriia Street from Frunze Street to Pryvokzalna Street in the NW and east to the city center. The Khimik Stadium is on the north side of this apartment complex not far from the bromine plant. In the SE of the city, a second smaller outlier of multi-story apartment neighborhoods lines the inner side of the 50 Years of Victory Street, an eastern thoroughfare that leads from the highway ENE, then N, to the soda plant; on the SSE side of this thoroughfare are the city’s radio transmitter and hospital, and on its E side, utilities and open fields, and between Kalinin and Pryvokzalna streets, cottages and gardens on both sides of the thoroughfare.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
‘Krasnoperekops'k,’ Heohrafichna entsyklopediia Ukraïny, vol 2 (Kyiv 1990)
Dobrusin, V., Proskurin, V., Sautin, O. ‘Krasnoperekops'k,’ Entsyklopediia suchasnoï Ukraïny, vol 15 (Kyiv 2014)
‘Karta Krasnoperekops'ka, Kryma, z vulytsiamy,’ Mapa Ukraïny https://kartaukrainy.com.ua/Krasnoperekopsk

Ihor Stebelsky

[This article was updated in 2024.]