Volodymyr (Ukrainian: Володимир, IPA: [woloˈdɪmɪr] ⓘ), previously known as Volodymyr-Volynskyi (Володимир-Волинський) from 1944 to 2021, is a small city in Volyn Oblast, northwestern Ukraine.

Five kilometres (three miles) south from Volodymyr is Zymne, where the oldest Orthodox monastery in Volhynia is located.

Following the partitions of Poland and the annexation of Volhynia by the Russian Empire in 1795, it was called Volodymyr-Volynskyi (Vladimir-Volynsky) to distinguish it from Vladimir-on-Klyazma.

[5] In 988, the city became the capital of Volodymyr Principality and the seat of an Orthodox bishopric, as mentioned in the Primary Chronicle.

[7] In the early 14th century, the Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus', Theognostus, resided in the city for several years before moving to Moscow.

[8] In 1349, the Polish king, Casimir the Great, captured the city, and subsequently it became part of the Kingdom of Poland.

[11] On 17 July 1792, the Battle of Włodzimierz took place in the vicinity of the town: a numerically inferior Polish force led by Tadeusz Kościuszko defeated a Russian army.

That year the Russian authorities changed the name of several cities in Volhynia, including Zviahel, which became Novohrad-Volynskyi.

In the 18th and 19th centuries the town started to grow rapidly, mostly thanks to large numbers of Jews settling there as part of the Pale of Settlement.

In the interbellum, the city was a seat of a powiat within the Volhynian Voivodeship of Poland and an important garrison was located there.

[12] In 1926, the Volyn Artillery Reserve Cadet School (Wołyńska Szkoła Podchorążych Rezerwy Artylerii) was established in Włodzimierz.

On 23 June 1941, at the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the city was occupied by Germany and attached to the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, and immediately the Jewish community of 11,554 began to be persecuted.

[14] From September 1941, the Germans operated the Oflag XI-A prisoner-of-war camp in the town, which was reorganized as Stalag 365 in April 1942.

Poles were defended both by the Polish police established with the consent of the Germans and an illegal self-defense unit.

In 1497, Duke Alexander Jagiellon erected a Catholic church of Holy Trinity and a Dominican monastery.