Early history Vinnytsia, known in
Polish as
Winnica, has been an important trade and political center since the fourteenth century, when
Fyodor Koriatovych, the nephew of the
Lithuanian Duke
Algirdas, built a fortress (1363) against
Tatar raiders on the banks of the
Southern Bug. The original settlement was built and populated by Aleksander Hrehorovicz Jelec, a
hetman under Lithuanian Prince
Švitrigaila. Aleksander Jelec built the fort, which he commanded as
starosta afterwards. In the 15th century, Lithuanian Grand Duke
Alexander Jagiellon granted Vinnytsia
Magdeburg city rights. In 1566, it became part of the
Bracław Voivodeship. Between 1569 and 1793 the town was a part of
Poland. In 1648, Vinnytsia found itself at the epicenter of the
Cossack uprisings led by
Bohdan Khmelnytsky. In February 1651, during the defense of the city,
Ivan Bohun's Cossack regiment defeated a 20,000-strong Polish army. Vinnytsia was part of the
Hetman state until 1667, and during 1672-1699 was a part of the
Ottoman Empire. Under Polish rule, Vinnytsia was a
royal city. On 18 March 1783,
Antoni Protazy Potocki opened the
Polish Trade Company in Vinnytsia. The 1st Infantry Regiment of the Polish
Crown Army was stationed in the city in 1788 before it was relocated to
Piotrków Trybunalski.
Late modern period After the
Second Partition of Poland in 1793 the
Russian Empire annexed the city and the region. Russia moved to expunge the
Roman Catholic religion. Catholic churches in the city, including what is currently the Transfiguration Cathedral, were converted to
Russian Orthodox churches. In the
Russian census of 1897, Vinnytsia had a population of 30,563. It was the third largest city in
Podolia region after
Kamianets-Podilskyi and
Uman. After railway connections were completed in 1871, Vinnytsia developed rapidly economically and infrastructurally. The city architect Hryhorii Artynov erected a number of buildings (a water tower, a theater, churches, hotels and mansions), which still shape the city image. During the
Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1920, Vinnytsia was chosen three times as the seat of government structures of the
Ukrainian People's Republic. The residence of the Directory was Savoy Hotel, which turned the city into a de facto capital. On 16 May 1920, a meeting was held in Vinnytsia between the heads of Ukraine and Poland,
Symon Petliura and
Józef Piłsudski. Soviet Vinnytsia became an industrial giant with an emphasis on
sugar production, but in the shadow of its prosperity it experienced a devastating man-made famine occurred in
Soviet Ukraine from
1932 to 1933. In 1936, part of the Polish population was expelled by the Soviets to Kazakhstan. The
Vinnytsia massacre was the mass execution of between 9,000 and 11,000 people in Vinnytsia by the
Soviet secret police
NKVD during the
Great Purge in 1937–1938.
World War II Vinnytsia was occupied by German troops on 19 July 1941 during
World War II. While Vinnytsia had a pre-war Jewish population of over 34,000, only 17,000 of these Jews remained, with the rest of them successfully being evacuated to the interior of the Soviet Union beforehand. Virtually all of the Jews who remained in Vinnytsia under Nazi occupation were murdered in the
Holocaust.
The Last Jew in Vinnitsa is a photograph taken during
the Holocaust in Ukraine showing an unknown Jewish man—probably on 28 July 1941—about to be shot dead by a member of the
Einsatzgruppen, a mobile
death squad of the German . The victim is kneeling beside a
mass grave already containing bodies; behind, a group of and
Reich Labor Service men watch.
Adolf Hitler sited his eastern headquarters,
Führerhauptquartier Werwolf or
Wehrwolf, at the Wehrmacht headquarters near the city. The complex was built in 1941–1942 by Russian prisoners of war. Many of them were killed. The few remains of the Wehrwolf site, described in one report as a "pile of concrete" because it was destroyed by the Nazis in 1944, can be visited. Plans to create a full-fledged museum had not come to fruition as of August 2018.
Later Soviet era After the end of
World War II, Vinnytsia was the home for major
Soviet Air Forces base, including an
airfield, a
hospital,
arsenals, and other military installations. The headquarters of the
43rd Rocket Army of the
Strategic Rocket Forces was stationed in Vinnytsia from 1960 to the early 1990s. The 2nd Independent Heavy Bomber Aviation Corps, which later became
24th Air Army, was stationed in Vinnytsia from 1960 to 1992.
Independent Ukraine The
Ukrainian Air Force Command has been based in Vinnytsia since 1992. During the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the command center was
significantly damaged by Russian
cruise missiles on 25 March 2022. On 14 July 2022 the center of
the city was attacked with three Russian cruise missiles. Missiles hit the local NeuroMed clinic and House of the Officers, which was currently used as a concert hall. Due to the strike 27 people were killed (three children among them), 80 were hospitalized. The next day the Russian Ministry of defense said that the target was top-ranking Ukrainian military officers and representatives of foreign military industry companies. On 12 October 2022, a pilot
Vadym Voroshylov (call sign
Karaia) destroyed 5 "Shahed 136" drones near Vinnytsia. Due to damage to the plane, Vadym ejected in Vinnytsia oblast, having previously diverted the fighter jet from the settlement. For this, he was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. In 2023, the city of Vinnytsia opened a representative office to the
European Union, becoming the fourth Ukrainian sub-national administration or organisation to take up an offer to use office space in the
European Committee of the Regions (CoR). On the night of July 15-16, 2025, Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine, using an Iskander-M ballistic missile, about 400 Shahed strike drones, and various types of simulator drones. Two companies were hit by the attack: the Polish Barlinek Group and the Ukrainian Green Cool. There were no fatalities at Barlinek, but 8 people were injured, two of them seriously burned. Shops and equipment were damaged, causing production to be suspended for several months. Green Cool also suffered damage to its production facilities. Four residential buildings near the companies were also damaged. == Population ==