Odesa Oblast in the context of "Teplodar"

Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative centre of the Odesa Raion and Odesa Oblast, as well as a multiethnic cultural centre. As of January 2021, Odesa's population was approximately 1,010,537. On 25 January 2023, its historic city centre was declared a World Heritage Site and added to the List of World Heritage in Danger by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in recognition of its multiculturality and 19th-century urban planning. The declaration was made in response to the bombing of Odesa during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has damaged or destroyed buildings across the city.

In classical antiquity a large Greek settlement existed at its location no later than the middle of the 6th century BC. It has been researched as a possible site of the ancient Greek settlement of Histria. The first chronicle mention of the Slavic settlement-port of Kotsiubijiv, which was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, dates back to 1415, when a ship was sent from here to Constantinople by sea. After the Grand Duchy lost control, the port and its surroundings became part of the domain of the Ottoman Empire in 1529, under the name Hacibey, and remained in it until the Ottomans' defeat in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). In 1794, a decree of the Russian empress Catherine II was issued to establish a navy harbor and trading place in Khadjibey, which was named Odessa soon after. From 1819 to 1858, Odesa was a free port. During the Soviet period, it was an important trading port and a naval base. During the 19th century, Odesa was the fourth largest city of the Russian Empire, after Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Warsaw. Its historical architecture is more Mediterranean than Russian, having been heavily influenced by French and Italian styles. Some buildings are built in a mixture of different styles, including Art Nouveau, Renaissance and Classicist.

The Danube Delta (Romanian: Delta Dunării, pronounced [ˈdelta ˈdunərij] ; Ukrainian: Дельта Дунаю, romanized: Del'ta Dunaju, pronounced [delʲˈtɑ dʊnɐˈju]) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. Occurring where the Danube River empties into the Black Sea, most of the Danube Delta lies in Romania (Tulcea County), with a small part located in Ukraine (Odesa Oblast). Its approximate surface area is 4,152 square kilometres (1,603 square miles), of which 3,446 km (1,331 sq mi) is in Romania. With the lagoons of Razim–Sinoe (1,015 km or 392 sq mi with 865 km or 334 sq mi water surface), located south of the main delta, the total area of the Danube Delta is 5,165 km (1,994 sq mi). The Razim–Sinoe lagoon complex is geologically and ecologically related to the delta proper; the combined territory is listed as a World Heritage Site.

Odesa Raion (Ukrainian: Одеський район) or Odessa Raion (Russian: Одесский район) is a raion (district) of Odesa Oblast, Ukraine. It was created on 17 July 2020 as part of the reform of administrative divisions of Ukraine. Biliaivka Raion, Biliaivka and Illichivsk municipalities, parts of Lyman and Ovidiopol raions, as well as the cities of Odesa, Teplodar, and Yuzhne were merged into Odesa Raion. The center of the raion is the city of Odesa. Population: 1,378,490 (2022 estimate).

During the southern Ukraine offensive of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the city of Odesa and the surrounding region have been the target of shelling and air strikes by Russian forces on multiple occasions since the conflict began, fired in part by Russian warships situated offshore in the Black Sea. The city has also been targeted by Russian cruise missiles.

Bulgarians in Ukraine (Bulgarian: Българи в Украйна, Bǎlgari v Ukrayna; Ukrainian: Болгари в Україні, Bolhary v Ukraïni) make up the fifth biggest minority in the country and primarily reside in southern Ukraine. Bulgarians make up a significant minority of the Odesa Oblast, especially the city of Bolhrad.

The Bessarabian Bulgarians (Bulgarian: бесарабски българи, romanized: besarabski bǎlgari; Romanian: bulgari basarabeni; Ukrainian: бесарабські болгари, romanized: bessarabski bolháry) are a Bulgarian minority group of the historical region of Bessarabia, inhabiting parts of present-day Ukraine (Budjak region of the Odesa Oblast) and Moldova.

Budjak, also known as Budzhak, is a historical region that was part of Bessarabia from 1812 to 1940. Situated along the Black Sea, between the Danube and Dniester rivers, this multi-ethnic region covers an area of 13,188 km (5,092 sq mi) and is home to approximately 600,000 people. The majority of the region (former Izmail Oblast) is now located in Ukraine's Odesa Oblast, while the remaining part is found in the southern districts of Moldova. The region is bordered to the north by the rest of Moldova, to the west and south by Romania, and to the east by the Black Sea and the rest of Ukraine.

Ethnic Georgians in Ukraine number around 34,199.

Notable Georgians that lived/worked in Ukraine includes famous poet Davit Guramishvili, Mikheil Saakashvili, who was the governor of the Odesa Oblast from May 2015 until November 2016, and Georgiy Gongadze, a journalist and film director who was kidnapped and murdered in September 2000 near Kyiv.

Dniester Estuary, or Dniester Liman (Ukrainian: Дністровський лиман; Romanian: Limanul Nistrului) is a liman, formed at the point where the river Dniester flows into the Black Sea. It is located in Ukraine, in Odesa Oblast, and connects Budjak to the Ukrainian mainland. The city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi lies on its western shore and Ovidiopol on its eastern shore. Shabo, situated downstream of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, is known for its wine. The estuary hosts the Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky Seaport.

The area of the liman varies between 360 and 408 km, it is 42.5 km long and has maximum width of 12 km. The average depth is 1.8 m, the maximum depth 2.7 m.