Kremenchuk (Ukrainian: Кременчук, Russian: Кременчу́г, translit. Kremenchug) is an important industrial city in the Poltava Oblast (province) of central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kremenchutskyi Raion (district), the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on the banks of Dnieper River.
Kremenchuk was supposedly founded in 1571. The name Kremenchuk consists of two words "kremen" - chert (a mineral) because the city is located on a giant chert plate, and "chuk" - from the Ukrainian "chuyu" ("I hear") - a shout of medieval helmsmen in acknowledgement of a warning cry of "Kremen!" sounded whenever their vessels approached the chert rapids while navigating down the Dnieper. An alternative explanation says that "Kremenchuk" is the Turkish for "small fortress". From its situation at the southern terminus of the navigable course of the Dnieper, and equally advantageous positioning on the crossway from Muscovy to the Black Sea, it acquired a great commercial importance early on, and by 1655, it was a wealthy Cossack town. In 1625, at Lake Kurukove in Kremenchuk, the Treaty of Kurukove was signed between the Cossacks and the Poles.
During World War II (1939-1945), Kremenchuk suffered heavily under Nazi occupation. More than 90% of the city's buildings were leveled over the course of the war, and most of Kremenchuk's once substantial Jewish population was wiped out. September 29, the day when the city was liberated from the Nazis in 1943, is celebrated in Kremenchuk as the City Day. Despite a remarkable post-war recovery and a healthier economy, Kremenchuk lacks much of the architectural charm and distinctly Ukrainian (rather than Russian) character of its sister city, the oblast capital of Poltava. Some people, however, consider a benefit the nearly complete lack of old (pre-World War II) buildings, claiming that it gives Kremenchuk its own special appeal.
Kremenchuk is a large industrial city of Poltava region and one of the leading industrial centers of Ukraine. It contributes about 7% (2005) of the national economy and accounts for more than 50% of the industrial output of Poltava region. The city is the home to KrAZ truck-manufacturing company (one of the largest in Eastern Europe) as well as a major European oil refinery operated by Ukrtatnafta, the road-making machine works, Kremenchuk Automobile Assembly Plant, the railcar plant, the wheel plant, the carbon black plant, the steel works and others.
The light industries of the city include tobacco (JTI), confectionery (Roshen), knitting factory as well as the milk and meat processing plants.
Kremenchuk is one of the most important railway junctions of Central Ukraine (thanks to its geographical position and a bridge over the Dnipro river), and a major river port on the main river of Ukraine.
