Vechirnii Kyïv

Vechirnii Kyïv («Вечірній Київ»; Evening Kyiv). A former organ of the Kyiv City Council and the city Party committee, published in Kyiv six days a week since 1951. It succeeded the Russian-language Vechernii Kiev (1927–30) and the Ukrainian-language Bil’shovyk (1932–9). Vechirnii Kyïv has been one of the most widely read newspapers in Ukraine. Its pressrun increased from 100,000 in 1960 to 367,000 in 1975. In the late 1970s, however, as a result of the official imposition of restrictions on the growth of the Ukrainian-language press and policy of Russification, its pressrun was reduced, to 200,000 by 1980. In 1983 a parallel Russian-language edition was established with an initial pressrun of 47,000, and the pressrun of the Ukrainian edition was reduced to 188,500. By 1989, only 130,000 copies of the Ukrainian edition were being printed, while the pressrun of the Russian edition was 330,000. Since 1990 it has been an independent commercial paper, initially edited by V. Karpenko, a member of the Supreme Council of Ukraine. In 1991 the pressrun was 500,000, and subscriptions to the Ukrainian edition increased to 300,000.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]