Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base throughout its history.

The total administrative area is 864 square kilometres (334 sq mi) and includes a significant amount of rural land.

[4] Sevastopol, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and under the Ukrainian legal framework, it is administratively one of two cities with special status (the other being Kyiv).

The city enjoys mild winters and moderately warm summers, characteristics that help make it a popular seaside resort and tourist destination, mainly for visitors from the former Soviet republics.

The Greek city of Chersonesus existed for almost two thousand years, first as an independent democracy and later as part of the Bosporan Kingdom.

Sevastopol was founded in June 1783 as a base for a naval squadron under the name Akhtiar[14] (White Cliff),[15] by Rear Admiral Thomas MacKenzie (Foma Fomich Makenzi), a native Scot in Russian service; soon after Russia annexed the Crimean Khanate.

Five years earlier, Alexander Suvorov ordered that earthworks be erected along the harbour and Russian troops be placed there.

The realisation of the initial building plans fell to Captain Fyodor Ushakov who in 1788 was named commander of the port and of the Black Sea squadron.

[17] After a minor skirmish at Köstence (now Constanța), the allied commanders decided to attack Sevastopol as Russia's main naval base in the Black Sea.

The Russians counterattacked on 25 October in what became the Battle of Balaclava and were repulsed, but the British Army's forces were seriously depleted as a result.

Isolated and facing a bleak prospect of invasion by the West if the war continued, Russia sued for peace in March 1856.

The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 March 1856, ended the war and forbade Russia from basing warships in the Black Sea.

[18] This hampered the Russians during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 and in the aftermath of that conflict, Russia moved to reconstitute its naval strength and fortifications in the Black Sea.

After fierce fighting, which lasted for 250 days,[19][20][21] the fortress city finally fell to Axis forces in July 1942.

On 29 October 1948, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Russian SFSR issued an ukaz (order) which confirmed the special status of the city.

As the key naval base of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet, it was a source of tensions for Russia–Ukraine relations until a set-term lease agreement was signed in 1997.

[28] At the time, many supporters of President Boris Yeltsin had ceased taking part in[clarification needed] the parliament's work.

[clarification needed] A week later, the Russian deputy, Valentin Agafonov, said that Russia was ready to supervise a referendum on Crimean independence and include the republic as a separate entity in the CIS.

A separate agreement established the terms of a long-term lease of land, facilities, and resources in Sevastopol and the Crimea by Russia.

A judicial row periodically continued over the naval hydrographic infrastructure both in Sevastopol and on the Crimean coast (especially lighthouses historically maintained by the Soviet and Russian Navy and also used for civil navigation support).

As in the rest of Crimea, Russian remained the predominant language of the city, although following the independence of Ukraine there were some attempts at Ukrainisation, with very little success.

Russian society in general and even some outspoken government representatives never accepted the loss of Sevastopol and tended to regard it as temporarily separated from Russia.

[36] On 23 February 2014, a pro-Russian rally took place in Nakhimov Square declaring allegiance to Russia and protesting against the new government in Kyiv following the overthrow of the president, Viktor Yanukovych.

[38][39] On 16 March 2014, an internationally unrecognised referendum was held in Sevastopol with official results claiming an 89.51% turnout and 95.6% of voters choosing to join Russia.

[42][43] However, the annexation remains internationally unrecognised, with most countries recognizing Sevastopol as a city with special status within Ukraine.

[44] While Russia has taken de facto control of Sevastopol and Crimea, the international community considers the area as part of Ukraine.

During the annexation of Ukrainian Crimea by Russia, the pro-Russian City Council threw its support behind Russian citizen Alexei Chaly as a "people's mayor" and said it would not recognise orders from Kyiv.

The port infrastructure is fully integrated with the city of Sevastopol and the naval bases of the Black Sea Fleet.

[need quotation to verify] In 1989 the proportion of Russians living in the city was 74.4%,[56] and by the time of the Ukrainian National Census, 2001, the ethnic groups of Sevastopol included Russians (71.6%), Ukrainians (22.4%), Belarusians (1.6%), Tatars (0.7%), Crimean Tatars (0.5%), Armenians (0.3%), Jews (0.3%), Moldovans (0.2%), and Azerbaijanis (0.2%).

Balaklava Bayfront Plaza (on hold), currently under construction, will be one of the tallest buildings in Ukraine, at 173 m (568 ft) with 43 floors.