Dnipro
[key], Rus. Dnepropetrovsk, city, capital of
Dnipropetrovsk region, central Ukraine, on the Dnieper River. A hub of rail
and water transportation, it is a major industrial center with a huge iron
and steel industry based on iron ore from the nearby Kryviy Rih mines and
coal from the Donets Basin. The city also has plants producing heavy
machinery, chemicals, rolling stock, and food products. Among its cultural
institutions are art, historical, and zoological museums.
Founded in 1787 by Potemkin on the site of a Zaporozhian Cossack village, it was named Katerynoslav (Rus. Yekaterinoslav) for Catherine II. It was called Novorossiysk from 1791 to 1802 and Katerynoslav until 1926, when it was renamed Dnipropetrovsk after the Dnieper River and the Ukrainian Soviet leader Hryhoriy (or Grigory) I. Petrovsky. The population greatly increased after the completion (1932) of the Dniprohes dam and power station. The city was occupied (1941–43) by German forces during World War II. In 2016 it was renamed Dnipro.
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