Zhirnovsk (Russian: Жи́рновск) is a town and the administrative center of Zhirnovsky District in Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Medveditsa River, which itself flows into the Don.

Zhirnovsk lies 320 kilometers (200 mi) north of Volgograd, the administrative center of the oblast.

[citation needed] The merger was prompted by the discovery of significant oil deposits near these villages in the 1940s and the consequent establishment of a worker's housing estate in 1954.

[2] As a municipal division, the town of district significance of Zhirnovsk is incorporated within Zhirnovsky Municipal District as Zhirnovskoye Urban Settlement.

[4] As of 2010, oil and gas processing remains the towns chief industry.