The Directory's pages for Ukraine describe the lighthouses as they existed before the start of the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia. No changes will be made until there is a stable agreement that stops the fighting. Ukraine (officially Україна, Ukraina) is a large country on the north side of the Black Sea, bordering Russia. Except for a brief period of independence during the Russian Revolution (1917-20), Ukraine was part of Russian or Soviet empires from the mid seventeenth century until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. However, the coastline of the Black Sea was mostly under the control of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire until it was taken by Russia during a series of wars in the second half of the 1700s. The Black Sea's northern coast is in several sections. In the west is the Bight of Odessa, named for Ukraine's largest port. In the center is the diamond shaped peninsula of Crimea. To the east is the Sea of Azov, connected to the rest of the Black Sea by the narrow Kerch Strait at the eastern end of Crimea. In March 2014 Russia annexed Crimea, leaving the Ukrainian coast in two sections: the Bight of Odessa in the west and the northwestern side of the Sea of Azov in the east. The annexation of Crimea has not been accepted by Ukraine or recognized internationally. Important note: The Lighthouse Directory takes no position on any international dispute; our task is to describe lighthouses, not comment on politics. Our descriptions are of the actual situation, whatever it may be. Ukraine (without Crimea) is divided into 24 provinces called oblasts (область), and the oblasts are divided into county-level districts called raions (райони). This page describes Ukraine's lighthouses in the area to the north of Crimea, including the southwestern coast of the Kherson Oblast and the Dnipro (Dnieper) River and its estuary, which joins the Bight of Odessa just to the northwest of Crimea. Lighthouses of the southeastern (Sea of Azov) coast of the Kherson Oblast are described on the Southeastern Ukraine page. The Ukrainian word for a lighthouse is mayak (маяк); ostriv (острів) is an island, mys (мис) is a cape, richka (річка) is a river, and havan' (гавань) is a harbor. Lighthouses in Ukraine are maintained by Derzhhidrohrafiyu, the hydrography and navigation service of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. UA numbers are the Ukrainian light list numbers as reported by Ukrainian Lighthouses on the Air. Admiralty numbers are from volume N of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 113. The Ukrainian light list, Вогні і знаки Чорного та Азовського морів (Lights and Signs of the Black and Azov Seas), is not available online.
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Kherson Oblast: Black Sea and Dnipro Estuary Lighthouses
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Dnipro (Dnieper) River Lighthouses
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Zaporizhia Dam and Light, Zaporizhia, July 2013 ex-Panoramio Creative Commons photo by mirhul |
Information available on lost lighthouses: Notable faux lighthouses: |
Vyshhorod (Kiev) Light, Vyshhorod, November 2013 ex-Panoramio Creative Commons photo by Wisetus |
Adjoining pages: East: Southeastern Ukraine | South: Western Crimea | West: Mykolaiv Area
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Posted February 19, 2007. Checked and revised September 8, 2021. Lighthouses: 29. Site copyright 2021 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.