Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast in the context of "Southern Military District"

This is a list of cities and towns in Russia and parts of the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine with a population of over 50,000 as of the 2021 Census. The figures are for the population within the limits of the city/town proper, not the urban area or metropolitan area.

The list includes Sevastopol and settlements within the Republic of Crimea which are internationally recognized as part of Ukraine and were not subject to the 2010 census. Additionally, settlements within the Donetsk People's Republic, Kherson Oblast, Luhansk People's Republic, and Zaporozhye Oblast, are internationally recognized as part of Ukraine and were not subject to the 2010 census. Only settlements presently controlled by Russia are included; settlements under the control of Ukraine are not included. The city of Zelenograd (a part of the federal city of Moscow) and the municipal cities/towns of the federal city of St. Petersburg are also excluded, as they are not enumerated in the 2021 census as stand-alone localities. The sixteen largest cities (cities with over 1,000,000 inhabitants) have a total population of 35,509,177, or roughly 24.1% of the country's total population.

Zaporizhzhia Oblast (Ukrainian: Запорізька область, romanized: Zaporizka oblast), commonly referred to as Zaporizhzhia (Запоріжжя), is an oblast (region) in south-east Ukraine. Its administrative centre is the city of Zaporizhzhia. The oblast covers an area of 27,183 square kilometres (10,495 sq mi), and has a population of 1,638,462 (2022 estimate). The oblast is an important part of Ukraine's industry and agriculture.

Most of the oblast's area, including all of the coast, has been under Russian military occupation since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, although the capital and the majority of the population have remained under Ukrainian administration. In September 2022, Russia declared it had annexed the Zaporizhzhia oblast based on the results of a disputed referendum. The referendum and subsequent annexation are not internationally recognized.

In late September 2022, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian-installed officials in Ukraine staged so-called referendums on the annexation of occupied territories of Ukraine by Russia. They were widely described as sham referendums by commentators and denounced by various countries. The validity of the results of the referendums has only been accepted by North Korea.

The votes were conducted in four areas of Ukraine – the Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, and the Russian-appointed military administrations of Kherson Oblast and Zaporizhzhia Oblast, captured and occupied in the first week of the 2022 invasion – as well as in Russia. At the time of the referendums, Russia did not fully control any of the four regions, where military hostilities were ongoing. Much of the population had fled since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The referendums were illegal under international law and have been condemned by the United Nations as violations of the United Nations Charter.

Melitopol is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River, which flows through the eastern edge of the city into the Molochnyi Lyman estuary. Melitopol is the second-largest city in the oblast after Zaporizhzhia and serves as the administrative centre of Melitopol Raion. As of January 2022, Melitopol's population was estimated to be 148,851.

Melitopol has been under Russian control since March 2022. On 30 September 2022, the city was formally annexed by the Russian Federation; however, it remains internationally recognized as sovereign territory of Ukraine.

Enerhodar (/ˌɛnərˈhoʊdɑːr/ EN-ər-HOH-dar; Ukrainian: Енергодар, IPA: [enerɦoˈdɑr], lit. 'energy's gift'; Russian: Энергодар, romanized: Energodar) is a city and municipality in the northwest of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. It is on the left bank of the Dnieper River, on the opposite side of the Kakhovka Reservoir from Nikopol and Chervonohryhorivka. Its main industry is electricity generation, at coal-fired and large nuclear power stations. It has an estimated population of 52,237 (2022 estimate). About 11,000 residents work at the nuclear power station. Since early 2022, it has been under Russian occupation.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station (Ukrainian: Запорізька атомна електростанція, romanized: Zaporiz'ka atomna elektrostantsiia; Russian: Запорожская атомная электростанция, romanized: Zaporozhskaya atmonaya elektrostantsiya) in southeastern Ukraine is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world. It has been under Russian control since 2022. It was built by the Soviet Union near the city of Enerhodar, on the southern shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper river. From 1996 to 2022, it was operated by Energoatom, which operates Ukraine's other three nuclear power stations.

The plant has six VVER-1000 pressurized light water nuclear reactors (PWR), each fueled with U (LEU) and generating 950 MW_e, for a total power output of 5,700 MW_e. The first five were successively brought online between 1985 and 1989, and the sixth was added in 1995. In 2020, the plant generated nearly half of the country's electricity derived from nuclear power, and more than a fifth of total electricity generated in Ukraine. The Zaporizhzhia thermal power station is nearby.

The following is a list of heads of the federal subjects of the Russian Federation. The Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, along with the Donetsk People's Republic, Kherson Oblast, the Lugansk People's Republic and Zaporozhye Oblast were annexed by Russia between 2014 and 2022 and, according to its constitution, are Federal subjects. However, internationally these entities are recognized as part of Ukraine.