Merefa

Merefa (Ukrainian: Мeрeфa) is a city in Kharkiv Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. Merefa hosts the administration of Merefa urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 21,202 (2022 estimate).

History

It was a village in Kharkovsky Uyezd of Kharkov Governorate of the Russian Empire.

City since 1938.

In January 1989 the population was 28,952 people. In 1992-1996, the Avangard football club of Merefa played in the national championship of Ukraine (third and second league in 1996/97) as a team that won the Kharkiv Oblast Football Championship (4 times in a row) and won prizes in transitional tournaments.

In January 2013 the population was 22,280 people.

On March 17, 2022, at about 3:30 am, Russian servicemen shelled the town of Merefa, Kharkiv district, destroying a secondary school and a house of culture. 15 people were killed. 25 people were injured, 10 of them in serious condition.

Name

Etymologists have not reached a final conclusion, but it is believed that the name originated from the Old Slavic "mьrRs" (to fade), which is derived from the Ukrainian merekhtyty (to flicker; barely visible). Another version is a hydronymic from "merecha" (Ukrainian for forest thicket; dense shrubbery in a swampy lowland), which is based on the Proto-Slavic "merRja" (Ukrainian for swampy place). Among the analogies is also merechytysia (to be seen), which is related to the root mereka ("delusion, ghost") derived from the Proto-Slavic morkъ (морок).