Mukachevo

Mukachevo (Мукачево, mʊˈkɑt͡ʃewo; Munkács; see name section) is a city in the valley of the Latorica river in Zakarpattia Oblast (province), in Western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of Mukachevo Raion (district), the city itself does not belong to the raion and is designated as a city of oblast significance, with the status equal to that of a separate raion. The city is a rail terminus and highway junction, and has beer, wine, tobacco, food, textile, timber, and furniture industries. During the Cold War, it was home to Mukachevo air base and a radar station. Mukachevo lies close to the borders of four neighbouring countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. Today, the population is . The city is a traditional stronghold of the Rusyn language, and the population of Mukachevo is officially reported as 77.1% ethnic Ukrainian. There are also significant minorities of: Russians (9.0%); Hungarians (8.5%); Germans (1.9%); and Roma (1.4%). Up until World War II and the Holocaust, Mukachevo was primarily a Jewish town, and half the population was Jewish (see below), the rest of the population being Russians, Hungarian, Slovak, and other minorities. Formerly in Czechoslovakia, and before that in Hungary, it was incorporated into Soviet Ukraine after World War II. Most probably, the name derived from the Hungarian surname "Muncas" - munkás (worker) which later transformed into Munkács, while another version points that the name contains proto-Slavic root "Muka" which means (flour). On 23 May 2017 the Ukrainian parliament officially renamed Mukacheve (Мукачеве) into Mukachevo (Мукачево), a year after the city council had decided to rename the city. Previously, it was usually spelled in Standard Literary Ukrainian as Mukacheve while Мукачів (Mukachiv) was sometimes also used. The city's name in Russian is Мукачево (Mukachevo), which is also the Russian transliteration (Мукачево) as well as a name adopted by the local authorities and portrayed on the city's coat of arms.