Zaporizhzhia

Zaporizhzhia is a city in southeast Ukraine on the banks of the Dnieper River and the administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The English Wikipedia article gives a 2022 estimate of 710,052 residents and says the city covers 334 square kilometres at an elevation of 50 metres. It was founded in 1770 as the Aleksandrovskaya Fortress on the Dnieper Defence Line and was called Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921. The present name means beyond the rapids, referring to its position downstream of the Dnieper Rapids, which were flooded in 1932 by the reservoir of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station. It is known for the historic island of Khortytsia, several power stations and heavy industry, producing steel, aluminium, aircraft engines, automobiles and transformers.