Volyn Oblast

Volyn Oblast or simply Volyn is an oblast (province) in northwestern Ukraine. It borders Rivne Oblast to the east, Lviv Oblast to the south, Poland to the west and Belarus to the north. Its administrative centre is Lutsk. Kovel is the westernmost town and the last station in Ukraine on the rail line running from Kyiv to Warsaw. The population is History Volyn was once part of the Kyivan Rus' before becoming an independent local principality and an integral part of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, one of Kyivan Rus' successor states. In the 15th century, the area came under the control of the neighbouring Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in 1569 passing over to Poland and then in 1795, until World War I, to the Russian Empire where it was a part of the Volynskaya Guberniya. In the interwar period, most of the territory, organized as Wołyń Voivodeship was under Polish control. In 1939 when Poland was invaded and divided by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union following the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact, Volyn was joined to Soviet Ukraine, and on December 4, 1939, the oblast was organized.