Melitopol (; ; ; based on , ) is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southeastern Ukraine. Melitopol has been occupied by Russia since March 2022. It is situated on the Molochna River, which flows through the eastern edge of the city into the Molochnyi Lyman estuary. Melitopol is the second-largest city in the oblast after Zaporizhzhia and serves as the administrative center of Melitopol Raion. As of January 2022 Melitopol's population was approximately The city is located at the crossing of two major European highways: E58 Vienna – Uzhhorod – Kyiv – Rostov-on-Don and E105 Kirkenes – St. Petersburg – Moscow – Kyiv – Yalta. An electrified railway line of international importance goes through Melitopol. The city was once known as "the gateway to the Crimea"; prior to the 2014 Russian occupation of Crimea 80% of passenger trains heading to the peninsula passed through it and during summer road traffic would reach 45,000 vehicles per day. History In July 1769, Russian military commanders built a redoubt there, and Zaporizhia Cossacks carried out their duty service there. On 2 February 1784, Catherine II issued the decree to create the Taurian Province on the lands that had been won. The deputy of Novorossiya Grigory Potemkin signed the relation to establish a town that very year – and Cossacks' families and those of retired soldiers of Suvorov settled on the right bank of the Molochna River. Among others, Germans were encouraged to settle in the new province, and some villages in this area were for many years German-speaking, such as Heidelberg (now Pryshyb) some to the north of Melitopol. In 1816, the settlement got the name sloboda of Novoalexandrovka. Its population was increasing due to the importation of peasants from the northern provinces of Ukraine and Russia. On 7 January 1842, the sloboda was recognized as a town and received the new name of Melitopol after a port city of Melita (from Greek Μέλι (meli) – "honey") which had been situated on the mouth of the Molochna River. At the end of the 19th century, the "Honey-city" had been developed as a trade center – there were some banks, credit organizations and wholesale stores. The largest enterprises in the city at the time were the iron foundry and the Brothers Klassen's machinery construction factory (1886), the railroad depot and the workshops. Further development of the city was closely connected with