Са́рни: Тарихы мен тағдыры

City in Rivne Oblast, Ukraine

Sarny (Сарни) is a small city in Rivne Oblast, western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Sarny Raion within the oblast and is a major railway node on the Sluch River. Population:

The city is named after the roe deer and can be literally translated as "deer" (plural); the name was adopted due to the abundance of them in the forests in the area.

Sarny at its outset was a small village on the Polissia Volyn border, located between forests and swamps. Sarny was a part of the Kingdom of Halych Volhynia. It was later annexed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, followed by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1795 it was considered a part of the Russian Empire, which was known as "the southwest line" and which now joined "the Polesia line". Concurrently, a large locomotive depot was constructed and Sarny became a centre of railroad activity, resulting in a need for construction of new housing for railway employees. Sarny was one of a series of towns and cities designated as railway station locations at key area boundaries. These municipalities were distinguished by the extent to which they were associated with manufacturing and markets, including being points for the concentration of agricultural produce for export. Lumber manufacturing also became an important and growing industry in Sarny, given that it was surrounded by forests. The city's economic zenith occurred after World War I, particularly during the period of Polish rule between 1921 and 1939, involving close economic and social relationships with the neighbouring city of Rivne, which had been the previous provincial seat, prior to Polish rule. The city was divided by the rail line, with Jewish residents predominantly on one side, and predominantly non Jewish residents on the other: the "Polesia side". Despite Sarny being a county seat in Poland and under Polish legislative rule, the dominant social influence at the time was Ukrainian, including Ukrainian nationalist sentiments. 300 Polish policemen were killed by Soviet soldiers in 1939, just after Soviets attacked Poland. The city was captured by Nazi Germany on July 8, 1941, following the repudiation by Germany of the Ribbentrop Molotov Pact and the German attack on Russia on June 22, 1941. At the time, Sarny had a Jewish population of approximately 5,000 persons. In April 1942, a ghetto was established in Sarny, into which were forced the Jews from Sarny and the surrounding towns. In August 1942, Sarny was the scene of what came to be known as the Sarny Massacre. Over two days, on August 27–28, 1942, between 14,000 and 18,000 people, mostly Jews from Sarny and surrounding towns, including an estimated 100 Roma, were systematically executed in the ravines on the outskirts of the town, where pits had been prepared. The executions were carried out by German troops and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, assisted by some 200 members of Organization Todt. A memorial book of the history of the Jewish community in Sarny was published in 1961, containing first person accounts by community survivors. During the Volhynian Genocide, commencing in 1943, Sarny was a shelter for ethnic Polish population of Volhynian countryside, massacred by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. In May 1943, German authorities created a Polish police unit, which defended the town from the Ukrainians. In 1944, most Poles were transported either to the General Government, or to the Third Reich as OST Arbeiters.

Sarny was reclaimed by Soviet forces on January 11, 1944. Since 1944, it has been a part of Ukrainian SSR and later independent Ukraine, as of 1991. Contemporary Sarny has predominantly an agriculture based economy. The city and its economy were affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, despite its distance from it. There is interest in renewed investment in the sawmill industry in Sarny.

In the evening of March 16, 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the city was hit for the first time by a missile strike by the Russian Armed Forces. According to the head of the Rivne Regional State Administration Vitaliy Koval, the blow was inflicted on one of the military infrastructure facilities in Sarny. He also said that there were no victims. In the evening of June 25, 2022, the city was hit for the second time by a missile strike by the Russian Armed Forces. According to the head of the Rivne Regional State Administration Vitaliy Koval, the attack was carried out on civilian infrastructure, at least 4 people were killed and seven others were injured. On the evening of August 28, 2022, powerful explosions rang out in Sarny during an air raid alert, the city was hit by a rocket from the Russian Armed Forces for the third time. According to the head of the Rivne Regional State Administration, V. Koval, a total of four missile strikes on the military infrastructure facility were recorded. There were no casualties. About 30 residential buildings and the premises of the central district hospital were damaged by the shock wave.