[2] With a population of 274,452 (2022 estimate),[3] Khmelnytskyi is the second-largest city in the historical region of Podolia, after Vinnytsia.

It was passed to Russia in 1793, as a result of the Second Partition of Poland, and became part of the newly-formed Podolia Governorate, where it became known as Proskuriv or Proskurov.

[6] On 16 January 1954, Proskuriv was renamed to Khmelnytskyi in honor of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the Cossack hetman who rebelled against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The earliest known mention in historical sources was in 1431,[8] when it was known as Płoskirów (Ploskirov, Плоскиров) and was part of the Kingdom of Poland.

According to the Russian census of 1897, Proskurov with a population of 22,855 was the fifth largest city of Podolia after Kamianets-Podilskyi, Uman, Vinnytsia and Balta.

In 1954 the city was finally renamed Khmelnytskyi (Хмельницький) in the honor of the 300th anniversary of a treaty negotiated by Bohdan Khmelnytsky.

Estimates vary as to the number of victims, some putting the death toll at 1,500 Jews in Proskurov alone, with 600 more killed in nearby Filshtein.

[11] The Chief Otaman Petliura had been appointed head of state just two days prior to the tragedy, on February the 13th.

[13] A ghetto was formed on December 14, 1941, where all surviving Jewish inhabitants had to resettle and were subjected to forced labor.

[16][17] On 10 October 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the city was targeted by Russian cruise missiles as part of a major retaliation strike for the Crimean Bridge explosion, causing a blackout in the city and limiting water supply.

The attack also caused a partial blackout and damaged more than a dozen cars and several residential buildings, including a kindergarten.

[19][20] On 23 February 2023, Russian forces hit Khmelnytskyi with 3 Iranian-made UAVs of the "Shahed type", killing one person and wounding four.

The most abundant make up for the ground in Khmelnytskyi are layers of the following overburden: loess and loess-type rocks.

The ground-climatic conditions of Khmelnytskyi are favorable for the cultivation of winter wheat and rye, sugar beet, potato and other crops.

Khmelnytskyi and its greater region supplies many rock products, particularly building materials such as limestone, plaster, chalk, tripoli powder, crystal layers (granites, gneisses), sand, sandstones, and also graphite, saponite, kaolin, phosphorite, lithographic stone, and roofing slate.

[27] Khmelnytskyi hosts 6 universities, 2 academies, 3 institutes, 12 colleges, 4 technical schools and 15 representative offices of other Ukrainian HEIs.

[28][29] Khmelnytskyi has infrastructure for transportation connections with Moscow, Prague, Bratislava, Warsaw, Budapest, Belgrade and all major Ukrainian cities.