Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi (Ukrainian: Білгород-Дністровський, IPA: [ˈb⁽ʲ⁾iɫɦorod d⁽ʲ⁾n⁽ʲ⁾iˈstrɔu̯sʲkɪj]; Romanian: Cetatea Albă; Russian: Белгород-Днестровский, romanized: Belgorod-Dnestrovskiy), historically known as Aq Kirmān (Turkish: Akkerman) or by other names, is a port city in Odesa Oblast, southwestern Ukraine.

Dnistrovskyi was added to differentiate it from Belgorod (in Ukrainian Bilhorod), a city in Russia, when both were a part of the Soviet Union.

The city is known by translations of "white city" or "castle" in a number of languages including Белгород Днестровски (Belgorod-Dnestrovski) in Bulgarian, Akerman (Акерман) in Gagauz, Białogród nad Dniestrem in Polish, Walachisch Weißenburg in Transylvanian German,[8] Dnyeszterfehérvár in Hungarian and עיר לבן (Ir Lavan) in Hebrew.

In Western European languages, including English, the city has typically been known by the official name of the time or a transliteration derived from it.

In the 6th century BC, Milesian colonists founded a settlement named Tyras on the future location of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, which later came under Roman and Byzantine rule.

[6] Following the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II brought in colonists from Asprokastron to repopulate the city.

The citadel surrendered when the Ottomans claimed to have reached an agreement with Prince Stephen, and promised safe passage to the inhabitants and their belongings; however, most of the city-dwellers were slaughtered.

On 25 September 1826, Russia and the Ottomans signed here the Akkerman Convention which imposed that the hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia be elected by their respective Divans for seven-year terms, with the approval of both Powers.

The city and the surrounding district became part of the Moldovan Democratic Republic after it proclaimed its independence following the Russian Revolution.

[11] Infrastructure works were carried out, including street paving, the construction of bridges and roads, as well as the development of parks and recreational areas.

Urban development plans included the creation of new neighborhoods and improvements to infrastructure, making the city more functional and pleasant for its inhabitants.

[13] The Romanian state regained it on 28 July 1941 during the invasion of the USSR by the Axis forces in the course of the Second World War and had it within its boundaries until 22 August 1944 when the Red Army reoccupied the city.

The municipality was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Odesa Oblast to seven.

[18] The language situation is notably different, with self-identified Russian-speakers representing a majority (54.52%), followed by speakers of Ukrainian (42.08%), Bulgarian (1.66%), Moldovan (0.67%) and Gagauz (0.19%).