Orikhiv (Ukrainian: Оріхів, IPA: [oˈr⁽ʲ⁾ix⁽ʲ⁾iu̯]) is a city in Polohy Raion, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southern Ukraine. It had an estimated population of 13,896,[2] as of 1 January 2022. Early in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, many residents were evacuated, with 6,000 remaining by August,[3] and the city being shelled constantly by Russian artillery.
Orikhiv was founded in about 1783 near the Konka river; it was incorporated in 1801. It is situated about 50 km (31.07 mi) southeast of Zaporizhzhia (formerly Aleksandrovsk), and almost the same distance north of the Molochna Kolonia (literally, 'milk colony'). In 1818 Orikhiv appeared to be a place where Russian Imperial military personnel were stationed; an officer from Orikhiv came out to finalize arrangements for the tsar's visit to Lindenau in May of that year. As early as 1836 a “Salt Road” (Tschumakemveg) connected Orikhiv with Perekop to the south, the road running through the Molochna Kolonia. This road was still shown on maps of 1852.[citation needed] In 1850 Orikhiv was within the boundaries of Taurida Govenorate, near its northeastern border. A railway constructed to connect Aleksandrovsk, now Zaporizhzhia, to Berdyansk, it went through Orikhiv, presumably to help development of the city and give easy port access at Berdyansk.
The first Mennonites likely settled in Orikhiv as early as the 1830s. By 1852 there were two windmills in Orikhiv owned by Mennonites (Kornelius Ediger and Kornelius Heinrichs) as well as a treadmill and oil press operated by Aaron Wiens. In the 1860s a number of families moved from Schoenwiese of the Chortitza Colony to Orikhiv. Among these was Johann Heinrich (Ivan Andreievitch) Janzen, who built two large steam-powered flour mills and encouraged other Mennonite businessmen to follow his example.
By 1874 the small Mennonite community, in cooperation with the equally small Lutheran group, had built a church and a school. Apparently the Mennonites and Lutherans had joint services in the church, but for major festivals the Mennonites tended to go to their home churches, for many this being Schoenwiese in the Chortitza Colony. They also went back to their home churches to allow the young people to meet prospective marriage partners.
In 1874 Johann Heinrich (Ivan Andreievich) Janzen was elected mayor of Orikhiv. Despite some opposition from the business community because Janzen was German, the governor of the province encouraged him to continue in his position. Orikhiv was one of the few cities with a positive balance sheet despite an aggressive school building program. Janzen retired in 1899. At the end of the nineteenth century, of a population of 10,000, there were only about 200 "Germans" in total (called niemsty), which included approximately equal numbers of Mennonites and Lutherans. Only one Mennonite estate, Rosenheim (Epp) was listed as being close to Orikhiv, while Wintergruen Estate was 14 verst (15 kilometres) east-southeast of the city. These estates no longer exist.[citation needed]
Peter Kondratyevitch Pavlenko was principal of the Halbstadt Zentralschule in 1909 and 1910, also teaching in the areas of mathematics and pedagogy; before that he had been on the faculty of the secondary school in Orikhiv. In 1918–1919 Orikhiv was in the centre of the area controlled by the anarchist Nestor Makhno, so it likely suffered the usual consequences of being occupied by his army. During the subsequent Civil War it was overrun a number of times as the vicissitudes of war caused frequent changes in the struggles between the Whites and the Reds. Orikhiv was the base from which the Red Army surged southward to finally defeat the Mennonite Selbstschutz – eventually leading to the capitulation in Gnadenfeld, Molotschna (today Bohdanivka).
Orikhiv attained city status in 1938. In 1972 it was the capital of the Orikhiv Raion of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The population was 21,200 in 1990. Main industries produced clothing, machinery and building supplies. There is a metallurgy plant, Orikhiv Quarry of Molding Materials, which deals with refractory materials, and a sugar refinery. The city also has a regional museum.[citation needed] There are no obvious traces of the Mennonite past remaining.[according to whom?]
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Early in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as many residents as possible were evacuated from Orikhiv. By late April 2022, Russian lines were three miles away and Russian artillery was shelling the town constantly.[4] On 7 May 2022, around 21:00, Orikhiv hospital was shelled by Russian forces. According to the local government, Russian forces wanted to finish off the wounded and kill civilian doctors.[5][6] On 21 May, local media reported that as a result of the Russian shelling, the gymnasium, and the building of the city executive committee were destroyed.[7][8]
According to OCHA, by 17 August the town's population had dwindled to 6,000.[3] As of October 2022, Russian forces were regularly shelling Orikhiv;[9][10][11][12] according to the city's deputy mayor, 70% of Orikhiv had been destroyed.[13]
In April 2023, Orikhiv's deputy mayor Svitlana Mandrich reported that Russian missile strikes had been so constant that the 2,000 residents who remained in Orikhiv rarely left their basement shelters. She reported that 30 civilians had been killed in Orikhiv since the shelling began.[14] In June 2023, CNN reported that only 1,400 civilians remained in the city, mainly living in basements and makeshift bunkers.[15] In October 2023 it was reported that the Russians were bombing the city 25 to 30 times a day and that there were very few undamaged houses in the city.[16]
In January 2024, it was reported that not a single high-rise building in Orikhiv was left standing and that the city has been without gas and electricity since the second month of the invasion.[17] On 21 February 2024, a Russian 550-pound glide bomb tore through the dome of the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary located in the center of Orikhiv.[18] In March 2024, Orikhiv was characterized by The Economist as a "ghost town", as an estimated 1,000 civilians remained in the city, with every building said to have been either damaged or destroyed.[19]
Ethnic groups according to the 2001 Ukrainian census:[20]
Native language according to the 2001 Ukrainian census:[21]
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