Kovel

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City in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine

title: "Kovel" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["kovel", "cities-in-volyn-oblast", "kovelsky-uyezd", "historic-jewish-communities-in-ukraine", "cities-of-regional-significance-in-ukraine", "holocaust-locations-in-ukraine"] description: "City in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kovel" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary City in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
official_nameKovel
native_nameКовель
settlement_typeCity
image_skyline{{Photomontage
photo1aСтара аптека та будинок, де розміщувався ревком.jpg
photo2aКовель - Дворовий корпус-1.jpg
photo2bSobór Zmartwychwstania w Kowlu.JPG
size270
spacing2
color#FFFFFF
border0
image_caption
image_flagFlag of Kovel.svg
image_shieldCoat of Arms of Kovel.svg
shield_size80px
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_name
subdivision_type1Oblast
subdivision_name1Volyn Oblast
subdivision_type2Raion
subdivision_name2Kovel Raion
leader_titleMayor
leader_nameIhor Chayka
established_titleFounded
established_date13th century
established_title2Magdeburg law
established_date21518
area_total_km247.3
population_as_of2022
population_total67575
population_footnotes
population_density_km21400
timezoneEET
utc_offset+2
timezone_DSTEEST
utc_offset_DST+3
pushpin_mapUkraine Volyn Oblast#Ukraine
coordinates
postal_code_typePostal code
postal_code45000
area_code+380 3352
website(in Ukrainian)
subdivision_type3Hromada
subdivision_name3Kovel urban hromada
mapframeyes
mapframe-zoom10
mapframe-wikidatayes
::

| official_name = Kovel | native_name = Ковель | other_name = | settlement_type = City | image_skyline = {{Photomontage|position=center | photo1a = Стара аптека та будинок, де розміщувався ревком.jpg | photo2a = Ковель - Дворовий корпус-1.jpg | photo2b = Sobór Zmartwychwstania w Kowlu.JPG | size = 270 | spacing = 2 | color = #FFFFFF | border = 0 | image_caption = | image_flag = Flag of Kovel.svg | image_shield = Coat of Arms of Kovel.svg | shield_size = 80px | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = | subdivision_type1 = Oblast | subdivision_name1 = Volyn Oblast | subdivision_type2 = Raion | subdivision_name2 = Kovel Raion | leader_title = Mayor | leader_name = Ihor Chayka | established_title = Founded | established_date = 13th century | established_title2 = Magdeburg law | established_date2 = 1518 | area_total_km2 = 47.3 | population_as_of = 2022 | population_total = 67575 | population_footnotes = | population_metro = | population_density_km2 = 1400 | timezone = EET | utc_offset = +2 | timezone_DST = EEST | utc_offset_DST = +3 | pushpin_map = Ukraine Volyn Oblast#Ukraine | coordinates = | elevation_m = | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = 45000 | area_code = +380 3352 | website = (in Ukrainian) | footnotes = | subdivision_type3 = Hromada | subdivision_name3 = Kovel urban hromada | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 10 | mapframe-wikidata = yes

Kovel (, ; ; ) is a city in Volyn Oblast, northwestern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Kovel Raion within the oblast. Population:

Kovel gives its name to one of the oldest runic inscriptions which were lost during World War II. The Kovel spearhead, unearthed near the town in 1858, contained text in Gothic.

History

The name Kovel comes from a Slavonic word for blacksmith hence the horseshoe on the town's coat of arms. The rune-inscribed Spearhead of Kovel was found near Kovel in 1858. It dates to the early 3rd century, when Gothic tribes lived in the area.

Kovel (Kowel) was first mentioned in 1310. It received its town charter from the Polish King Sigismund I the Old in 1518. In 1547 the owner of Kowel became Bona Sforza, Polish queen. Since 1564 the starost of Kowel was Andrei Kurbski (d. 1584). From 1566 to 1795 it was part of the Volhynian Voivodeship. Kowel was a royal city of Poland. In 1792 the 3rd Polish Vanguard Regiment was garrisoned in Kowel, and later on also the 2nd Polish National Cavalry Brigade was stationed there.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Ковель_-Костел(дер.)_з_с._Вишеньки_Рожищенського_району-1.jpg" caption="St. Anne's Church]]}}"] ::

After the Third Partition of Poland, in 1795, the town fell into the Russian Empire for over a hundred years. During the First World War, the city was a site of the Battle of Kowel between the Central Powers and the Russian Empire.

During the Polish–Soviet War, on September 12, 1920, it was the site of a battle between the Poles and Russians. The Poles won the battle, capturing a large amount of weapons and military equipment, including two armored trains and 26 cannons. In the interwar period, Kowel served as the capital of Kowel County in Wołyń Voivodeship of the Polish Republic. It was an important garrison of the Polish Army, here the headquarters of the 27th Volhynian Infantry Division was located. Furthermore, at the village of Czerkasy, a large depot of the Polish Army was located. In 1924, construction of the St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Roman Catholic church began.

In World War II, following the joint Nazi German-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, Kovel was occupied by the Soviet Union and had a large number of Jewish refugees from German-occupied Poland. The area had a large presence of the Communist Party of Western Ukraine, and thus the Red Army was generally greeted as liberators. Subsequently, in 1941 Operation Barbarossa the Germans having conquered the town on 28 June 1941 murdered 18,000 Jews in Kovel, mostly during August and September 1942. The Germans operated the Stalag 301 POW camp, a subcamp of the Stalag 360 POW camp and a Dulag transit POW camp in the town.

About 8,000 Jews were murdered in the forest near Bakhiv on 19 August 1942 during the liquidation of the Kovel ghetto, established on 25 May 1942. Jewish victims were driven by train from Kovel to Bakhiv where pits were dug close to the railroads. Actually there were two ghettos, one within the city and another in the suburbs of Pyaski. Both ghettos had 24,000 Jews, including many refugees. The Jews from both ghettos were executed at different places and at different time. The Jewish community ceased to exist.

In March and April 1944 during the Soviet Polesskoe offensive, Kovel was a site of fierce fighting between the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking and the Red Army.

During the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, the town was a shelter for ethnic Poles, escaping the massacres. In that period, Ukrainian nationalists murdered approximately 3,700 Polish inhabitants of Kovel county. In early spring 1944, the 27th Infantry Division of the Home Army operated in the area. Kovel was captured by the Red Army on 6 July 1944. In 1945, the Big Three, Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, established new borders for Poland; the Polish population was forcibly resettled and Kovel was incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. It has been a part of sovereign Ukraine since 1991.

In October 2022, the city of Chamblee, Georgia, signed a Partnership Agreement with the Ukrainian city of Kovel, in Volyn Oblast. Kovel, Ukraine, became Chamblee's first sister city. That same month, Chamblee Mayor Brian Mock personally visited Kovel, Ukraine.

Geography

Climate

| width = auto | metric first = yes | single line = yes | location = Kovel (1991–2020) | Jan high C = 0.2 | Feb high C = 2.0 | Mar high C = 7.3 | Apr high C = 15.0 | May high C = 20.8 | Jun high C = 24.1 | Jul high C = 26.0 | Aug high C = 25.5 | Sep high C = 19.6 | Oct high C = 13.2 | Nov high C = 6.4 | Dec high C = 1.5 | year high C = 13.5 | Jan mean C = -2.4 | Feb mean C = -1.4 | Mar mean C = 2.7 | Apr mean C = 9.1 | May mean C = 14.4 | Jun mean C = 17.9 | Jul mean C = 19.7 | Aug mean C = 18.8 | Sep mean C = 13.6 | Oct mean C = 8.2 | Nov mean C = 3.2 | Dec mean C = -1.0 | year mean C = 8.6 | Jan low C = -5.0 | Feb low C = -4.3 | Mar low C = -1.2 | Apr low C = 4.9 | May low C = 8.7 | Jun low C = 12.3 | Jul low C = 14.2 | Aug low C = 13.1 | Sep low C = 8.7 | Oct low C = 4.2 | Nov low C = 0.6 | Dec low C = -3.1 | year low C = 4.4 | precipitation colour = green | Jan precipitation mm = 36 | Feb precipitation mm = 35 | Mar precipitation mm = 39 | Apr precipitation mm = 41 | May precipitation mm = 68 | Jun precipitation mm = 80 | Jul precipitation mm = 88 | Aug precipitation mm = 61 | Sep precipitation mm = 63 | Oct precipitation mm = 44 | Nov precipitation mm = 40 | Dec precipitation mm = 42 | year precipitation mm = 637 | unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm | Jan precipitation days = 9.2 | Feb precipitation days = 9.2 | Mar precipitation days = 9.1 | Apr precipitation days = 8.2 | May precipitation days = 9.5 | Jun precipitation days = 9.6 | Jul precipitation days = 9.9 | Aug precipitation days = 7.6 | Sep precipitation days = 8.1 | Oct precipitation days = 8.1 | Nov precipitation days = 9.4 | Dec precipitation days = 9.9 | year precipitation days = 107.8 | Jan humidity = 85.8 | Feb humidity = 83.0 | Mar humidity = 76.1 | Apr humidity = 68.4 | May humidity = 69.8 | Jun humidity = 71.9 | Jul humidity = 73.8 | Aug humidity = 73.9 | Sep humidity = 80.1 | Oct humidity = 82.6 | Nov humidity = 87.0 | Dec humidity = 87.7 | year humidity = 78.3 | Jan sun = 43 | Feb sun = 66 | Mar sun = 136 | Apr sun = 197 | May sun = 254 | Jun sun = 268 | Jul sun = 272 | Aug sun = 263 | Sep sun = 172 | Oct sun = 119 | Nov sun = 50 | Dec sun = 32 | year sun = 1872 | source 1 = NOAA{{cite web |url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/archive/arc0216/0253808/4.4/data/0-data/Region-6-WMO-Normals-9120/Ukraine/CSV/Kovel_33173.csv |title = World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991-2020 — Kovel |publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |access-date = June 16, 2024}}

Transportation

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Залізничний_вокзал_Ковель.jpg" caption="Kovel's historic railway station"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Вокзал_станції_Ковель.jpg" caption="Kovel's modern railway station"] ::

Kovel is the north-western hub of the Ukrainian rail system, with six rail lines radiating outward from the city. The first of these was built in 1873, connecting the city with Brest-Litovsk and Rivne. In 1877 Kovel was linked by the Vistula River Railroad with Lublin and Warsaw.

Notable people

Twin towns – sister cities

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Sign_of_the_sister_city_contract.jpg" caption="Chamblee Mayor Brian Mock, Kovel Mayor Igor Chaika, the NGO "Big Idea" - Lyudmila Zubareva, Pavlo Oksenyuk, Rafael Crepaldi strolling through Kovel, [[Ukraine]]."] ::

Kovel is twinned with:

References

References

  1. "Municipal official site in Ukrainian".
  2. [http://www.arild-hauge.com/ru-e-rusland.htm illustration]
  3. Rąkowski, Grzegorz. (2005). "Wołyń". Oficyna Wydawnicza "Rewasz".
  4. Gembarzewski, Bronisław. (1925). "Rodowody pułków polskich i oddziałów równorzędnych od r. 1717 do r. 1831". Towarzystwo Wiedzy Wojskowej.
  5. [http://www.bfcollection.net/cities/ukraine/kovel/kovel.html Photograph from the Boris Feldblyum Collection]
  6. Ryłko, Władysław. (1929). "Zarys historji wojennej 7-go pułku artylerii polowej".
  7. (2008). "The Shoah in Ukraine : history, testimony, memorialization". Indiana University Press.
  8. (2022). "The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV". Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
  9. "Yahad - in Unum".
  10. "Bakhiv (Kovel)".
  11. Віталіївна, Семерей Руслана. (2022-10-26). "Ковель та американське місто Шамблі уклали Договір про партнерство".
  12. "Міста партнери". Kovel.
  13. "Sister City - Kovel, Ukraine". Chamblee.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

kovelcities-in-volyn-oblastkovelsky-uyezdhistoric-jewish-communities-in-ukrainecities-of-regional-significance-in-ukraineholocaust-locations-in-ukraine