Sumy Oblast (), also known as Sumshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in northeast Ukraine. The oblast was created in its modern-day form, from the merging of raions from Kharkiv Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, and Poltava Oblast in 1939 by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. The estimated population is
The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Sumy. Other important cities within the oblast include Konotop, Okhtyrka, Romny, and Shostka. The modern region combines territories of the historical Severia (northern part) and Sloboda Ukraine (southern part). On territory of the Sumy Oblast important centers of Ukrainian culture are located, such as the city of Hlukhiv which served as a hetman residence during the Cossack Hetmanate as well as the cities of Okhtyrka and Sumy which were regional centers of the Sloboda Ukraine.
The oblast has a heavy mix of agriculture and industry, with over 600 industrial locations. Among the most notable was the Soviet film stock manufacturer Svema in Shostka. Importantly, seven rivers pass through the oblast.
The Sumy Oblast is situated in the northeastern part of Ukraine. In Ukraine it borders Chernihiv Oblast to its west, Poltava Oblast to the south, and Kharkiv Oblast to the southeast. Sumy Oblast also borders the Russian Federation, including Bryansk in the north, Kursk to the northeast, and Belgorod to the east. The length of the state border with the Russian Federation is . There are three railway border crossing (Volfine, Pushkarne, Zernove) and five highway border crossings (Bachivsk, Katerynivka, Ryzhivka, Yunakivka, Velyka Pysarivka). In regard to border crossings, since 2006 the city of Sumy has an airport which has an international checkpoint.
On its territory the Dnieper Lowland transitions east to the Central Russian Upland. The northern part of Sumy Oblast is part of the Polesie Lowland as its eastern region. The elevation of Sumy Oblast is between 110âÂÂ240 m above sea level. Its area (23,800 km<sup>2</sup>) constitutes 3.95% of the country.
Seven main rivers flow through the oblast, with Desna River being the largest. All of them are transit because crossing the oblast flowing from the territory of the Russian Federation west towards Dnieper. All rivers in Sumy Oblast are part of the Dnieper River basin.
The Sumy Oblast contains 168 objects and territories of natural reserve. The oblast is rich in picturesque banks of numerous rivers, and sources of mineral waters. Major environmental problems are: soil erosion, pesticide pollution, air and water pollution. The city has a problem of garbage utilization.
The region was created on the ukase of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union on 10 January 1939 as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The newly created Sumy Oblast included 12 former raions of Kharkiv Oblast, 17 former raions of Chernihiv Oblast, and 2 former raions of Poltava Oblast.
During World War II in 1941âÂÂ43, it was occupied by Nazi Germany under administration of the German Wehrmacht. After the German forces were driven out, the Soviet Union regained control of the region under jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
In 1965 one of former Chernihiv Oblast raions (Talalaivka Raion) was returned to Chernihiv Oblast.
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine the Sumy Oblast was one of the first regions where Russian and Ukrainian forces clashed. Parts of the oblast came under Russian occupation during the invasion. On 4 April 2022 Governor of Sumy Oblast Dmytro Zhyvytskyi stated that Russian troops no longer occupied any towns or villages in Sumy Oblast and had mostly withdrawn, while Ukrainian troops were working to push out the remaining units. On 8 April 2022 Zhyvytskyi stated that all Russian troops had left Sumy Oblast.
On 9 June 2024, amid Russian cross-border operations in neighboring Kharkiv Oblast, Russian forces claimed to have attacked and captured the border village of Ryzhivka, though this was denied by Ukrainian authorities.
Since the collapse of the Kursk Incursion in early 2025, Russian forces slowly reoccupied territories in northeastern Sumy Oblast. Several border settlements were captured, including Novenske, Basivka, and Veselivka. As of February 2026, combat continues in several settlements near the border, including Yunakivka and Kindrativka.
According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, ethnic Ukrainians accounted for 88.8% of the population of Sumy Oblast, and ethnic Russians for 9.4%.
Due to the Russification of Ukraine during the Soviet era, the share of Ukrainian speakers in the population of Sumy Oblast gradually decreased, while the share of Russian speakers increased. Native language of the population of Sumy Oblast according to the results of population censuses:
Native language of the population of the raions, cities, and city councils of Sumy Oblast according to the 2001 Ukrainian census:
Ukrainian is the only official language on the whole territory of Sumy Oblast.
According to a poll conducted by Rating from 16 November to 10 December 2018 as part of the project ëPortraits of Regionsû, 60% of the residents of Sumy Oblast believed that the Ukrainian language should be the only state language on the entire territory of Ukraine. 22% believed that Ukrainian should be the only state language, while Russian should be the second official language in some regions of the country. 10% believed that Russian should become the second state language of the country. 8% found it difficult to answer.
On 26 April 2023, Sumy Oblast Military Administration approved the ëProgramme for the Development of the Ukrainian Language in All Spheres of Public Life in Sumy Oblast for 2023âÂÂ2027û, the main objective of which is to strengthen the positions of the Ukrainian language in various spheres of public life in the oblast.
According to the research of the Content Analysis Centre, conducted from 15 August to 15 September 2024, the topic of which was the ratio of Ukrainian and Russian languages in the Ukrainian segment of social media, 75.0% of posts from Sumy Oblast were written in Ukrainian (72.5% in 2023, 55.9% in 2022, 19.4% in 2020), while 25.0% were written in Russian (27.5% in 2023, 44.1% in 2022, 80.6% in 2020).
After Ukraine declared independence in 1991, Sumy Oblast, as well as Ukraine as a whole, experienced a gradual Ukrainization of the education system, which had been Russified during the Soviet era. Dynamics of the ratio of the languages of instruction in general secondary education institutions in Sumy Oblast:
According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, in the 2023âÂÂ2024 school year, all 91,513 pupils in general secondary education institutions in Sumy Oblast were studying in classes where Ukrainian was the language of instruction.
The following historic-cultural sited were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.
It comprises 5 raions (districts) that are further subdivided into 51 territorial hromadas (communities).
The following data incorporates the number of each type of administrative divisions of the Sumy Oblast:
The local administration of the oblast is controlled by the Sumy Oblast council. The governor of the oblast (chairman of state regional administration) is appointed by the President of Ukraine.
More: Administrative divisions of Sumy Oblast
The main industrial activities of the oblast are: chemical mechanical engineering, pumping and energy mechanical engineering, agricultural machine-construction, instrument-making industry and radio electronics, technical equipment production for processing fields of agro-industrial complexes, mining and iron ore production industry, polygraph industry and medicine production, oil and gas processing, chemical production, film and photo material production (See: Svema), and chemical fertilizer production. In general, there are 273 large industry enterprises and 327 small industry enterprises.
In 1999, the gross grain yield was about 446,000 tons, sugar beets â 664,000 tons, sunflower seeds â 27,700 tons, potatoes â 343,600 tons. The region also produced 108,700 tons of meat, 517,800 tons of milk and 295,300,000 eggs. At the beginning of 1999, there were 781 registered farms in the oblast.
Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city: Sumy is the center of the SumsâÂÂka oblast (Sumy Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Sumy Oblast, Sumshchyna.