Derazhnia is situated along the banks of the Vovk River (meaning wolf in Ukrainian), 42 km east from the regional center Khmelnytskyi.

Local Sugar Factory was 5th largest in Ukraine, defunct from the late 1990s - early 21st century.

[3] Turkish records from 1542 to 1543 report that the town site had a small Cossack detachment consisting of no more than a few huts.

Starting in the 1840s, special Jewish agricultural colonies were granted close to Derazhnia.

Historically, Derazhnia was a tiny, impoverished village in the middle of nowhere until the Southern-Western Railroad was built in 1871–1876.

The large crowded halls of the Derazhnia train station served as a kind of international marketplace and clubhouse.

Ukrainian Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem wrote the fictional humorous short story "The German" taking place in Derazhnia.

After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Derazhnia saw numerous pogroms, due both to the communications and the strategic importance of the rail station.

In World War II, Derazhnia fell to Nazi forces during Operation Barbarossa on July 11, 1941, after heavy fighting.

During the Cold War, a field of intercontinental ballistic missile silos operated by the Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces existed near the town.

This missile field was similar to the one at Pervomaisk and was the subject of intense negotiation during SALT II.