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Wikipedia / Novyi Rozdil

Novyi Rozdil (, ) is a city in Stryi Raion, Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of Novyi Rozdil urban hromada.

The city was founded in 1953 as a mining and industrial settlement following the discovery of the Rozdil sulphur deposit, one of the largest such deposits in Europe. It received city status in 1965.

A municipal budget document gave the population of the city as 29,643 on 1 November 2023, representing 76.1% of the population of the wider urban hromada.

Geography

Novyi Rozdil lies on the boundary between the Opillia uplands and the Precarpathian depression, on the left-bank slope of the Dniester valley. The Dniester itself is about from the city. Lviv is approximately away.

The city developed within the Precarpathian sulphur-bearing basin. Its urban area is approximately .

History

Novyi Rozdil is one of the younger cities of Lviv Oblast. It was founded in 1953 as a new mining and industrial settlement on land previously occupied by fields and meadows. Its creation followed the discovery in 1950 of the large Rozdil deposit of native sulphur.

The first residents moved into three apartment buildings in 1955. In 1958 the Rozdil Mining and Chemical Combine, known as Sirka, entered operation and began open-cast exploitation of the sulphur deposit. A railway branch towards Khodoriv was also constructed, and the first train carrying sulphur products left on 28 December 1958.

The settlement received the name Novyi Rozdil in April 1959, derived from the neighbouring settlement of Rozdil. In October of that year it was designated an urban-type settlement, and in 1965 it received city status. The village of Malekhiv was incorporated into the city in 1972.

Until 2020 Novyi Rozdil was administratively separate from the surrounding raion as a city of regional significance. As part of Ukraine's administrative reform, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Resolution No. 807-IX on 17 July 2020, reorganising the country's raions; Novyi Rozdil subsequently became part of the enlarged Stryi Raion. The reform also established the present Novyi Rozdil urban territorial community.

International relations

Twin towns and partnerships

Novyi Rozdil's established twin towns are:

The city also has a partnership with the Sadivska territorial community in Sumy Oblast, established on 26 May 2023.

Relations with Saintes

Since the spring of 2022, following the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Novyi Rozdil has developed a close relationship with Saintes in south-western France. Saintes sought a western Ukrainian municipality of a broadly comparable size to which humanitarian assistance could be directed, and contacts with Novyi Rozdil began with donations and remote exchanges between the two municipalities.

The relationship developed beyond the provision of humanitarian aid. In April 2025 the municipal council of Saintes unanimously approved the establishment of a charter of friendship and cooperation with Novyi Rozdil. During the war, the proposed cooperation included humanitarian and logistical assistance as well as economic and industrial contacts; the charter also envisaged longer-term exchanges in education, culture, sport, tourism and economic development.

In February 2026 representatives of Novyi Rozdil travelled to Saintes to collect an emergency vehicle and other equipment intended for the Ukrainian city.

From 6 to 9 July 2026, a delegation headed by the mayor of Saintes, Bruno Drapron, made the first official visit by representatives of Saintes to Novyi Rozdil. The delegation met the mayor of Novyi Rozdil, Yaryna Yatsenko, and local officials and visited municipal, educational and industrial sites.

Following the visit, Saintes announced its intention to formalise the relationship further. A twinning convention with Novyi Rozdil was expected to be presented to the Saintes municipal council in October 2026. As of September 2026, the process of establishing that formal twinning was therefore still in progress.

Notable people

  • Les Panchyshyn (born 1991), Ukrainian painter, photographer and music-video director; born in Novyi Rozdil.

  • Olha Freimut (born 1982), Ukrainian television presenter and journalist; born in Novyi Rozdil.

  • Andriy Kuzmenko (1968–2015), singer, writer and television presenter, spent his childhood in Novyi Rozdil and attended School No. 4 in the city.

References