Dubno (Ukrainian: Дубно, IPA: [ˈdubno]) is a city and municipality located on the Ikva River in Rivne Oblast (province) of western Ukraine.

In Soviet times it was home to the Cold War facility Dubno air base.

First mentioned in a chronicle of 1100, when it was in possession of Yaroslav the Wise's grandson David of Brest [citation needed], Dubno was even a seat of local princes for a short period of time.

In the early 14th century the region was the subject of Polish-Lithuanian rivalry, as a result of which Dubno became part of the latter.

Granted city rights in 1498 by Alexander Jagiellon, the town attracted many foreign settlers, most notably Jewish and Armenian.

Between 1489 and 1506 the castle was significantly expanded by Konstanty Ostrogski, who made it a modern fortress, one of the strongest in the area.

During the Polish-Russian War of 1605–1618 in 1617, Prince and future King Władysław IV Vasa resided in the city.

[2] By that time, the town was the largest settlement of the Volhynian Voivodeship and arguably the most notable centre of the area.

Dubno itself was annexed by Imperial Russia in 1795 during the Third Partition of Poland, after which the nobility's register was moved to Kyiv and the town lost its importance, gradually falling into neglect.

As part of anti-Polish repressions, the Russian administration closed down the Bernardine and Carmelite monasteries and confiscated them from the Catholic Church.

The castle was ruined in 1915 during World War I. Retaken by Poland after the state's independence in 1918 and finally granted to Poland in the Peace of Riga, it was a seat of a powiat and a notable military garrison of both the KOP, and the Polish Army, with the 43rd Rifle Regiment (part of the 13th Kresy Infantry Division), and the 2nd Regiment of Mounted Artillery (part of Volhynian Cavalry Brigade) stationed here.

Between 1932 and 1939 the castle was being rebuilt in its original form, but the works were stopped by the outbreak of World War II.

[5] In the second half of 1943, Dubno became a shelter for ethnic Polish population of Volhynia, who came here to escape the Volhynian Genocide.

The nineteenth century intellectual Joel Baer Falkovich was also born in Dubno and was a pioneer of the Haskalah there, although he relocated to Odessa later in life.

The ghetto included the local Jewish population as well as many refugees from other parts of Poland who had fled east.