Pavlohrad (Ukrainian: Павлоград, pronounced [pɐu̯loˈɦrɑd] ⓘ) is a city in central east Ukraine, located within Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
[not verified in body] Pavlohrad, one of the oldest modern settlements in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast appears in documents from the 17th century.
At the beginning of the 1770s, Zaporozhian Cossack Matvii Khizhnyak built winter quarters, which soon became known as sloboda Matviivka (Ukrainian: Матвіївка; Russian: Матвеевка, romanized: Matveevka).
With the establishment of Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty in 1783, the city became a part of this administrative unit as a district town, and then renamed to Pavlohrad.
Under his leadership the city started to develop rapidly: several churches, temples, barracks, gymnasiums, factories and plants were built.
During the Holocaust the German occupying forces operated a concentration camp (Dulag 111) and a Jewish ghetto in Pavlohrad.
[4] On 22 May 2011 it was reported that unknown persons had desecrated the cemetery in the town - tombstones were turned over and broken in an apparently anti-Semitic act.
[5] Following the German retreat in February 1943, the Wehrmacht recaptured Pavlohrad during a counteroffensive, planning to use the city as a base for a future attacks on the entire southern Red Army.
[citation needed] On 30 April 2023, a Russian attack on Pavlohrad caused a series of large explosions and fires, injuring at least 34 civilians.
Ukrainian sources reported that a plant was hit that produced solid fuel for Soviet-era rockets, and had a number of motors awaiting decommissioning.
Russian sources claimed that this attack disrupted the production of ammunition, weapons and military equipment for Ukrainian troops.