The settlement is 42 km (26 mi) away from Sumy, the regional center, and has a population of 7,769 (2022 estimate).

The town appeared in 1640 as a fort of the Belgorod Defense Line which Russian forces erected in Sloboda Ukraine to secure state southern borders from raids of Crimean Tatars and Nogais.

Eventually the town developed into a district center of the Sumy Regiment which also served as a regional subdivision of the Sloboda Ukraine.

After disbanding the regimental administrative division in 1765, Krasnopillia became a sloboda and a seat of volost (a county subdivision).

During World War II it was under German occupation from October 15, 1941 to 1943.