Birzula was first mentioned in Ottoman documents in 1772 as one of the settlements of the Dubossar raya.

[3][circular reference] The city is known as the place where Soviet military leader Grigori Kotovsky was buried in a mausoleum.

In 1935, the city was renamed Kotovsk after him; formerly the settlement bore the name Birzula.

[4] A Vladimir Lenin statue in Kotovsk was pushed off its pedestal and broken into several pieces on 9 December 2013.

Ethnic Ukrainians account for over 80% of the population, 10% refer to themselves as Russians, and 5% are Moldovans.