Modern history of Ukraine local elite. Many members of the Soviet leadership came from Ukraine, most notably Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev a Soviet leader from 1964 to 1982, as well as many prominent Soviet sportsmen, scientists and artists. In 1954, the Russian-populated oblast of Crimea was transferred from the Russian to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. However, the relatively underdeveloped industrial branches such as coal- and iron ore mining, metallurgy, chemical and energy industry dominated the republic's economy. Once a Cossack steppe, the southern oblasts of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia were turned into a highly industrialised area with rapidly increasing impact on its environment and
Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine Khmelnytskyi (, ; ) (until 1954, Proskuriv, ; ) is a city in western part of Ukraine, the administrative center for the Khmelnytskyi Oblast (region) and the Khmelnytskyi Raion (district). Khmelnytskyi is located in the historic region of Podolia on the banks of the Buh River. The city received its current local government designation in 1941. In 2015, the city's population was 267,973, making it the second largest city of the former, archaic Podolia region after Vinnytsia and the largest city of the western part of the region. The city foundation date is uncertain. The territory, where Khmelnytskyi