Hadiach

Hadiach (Гадяч, ), sometimes spelled Hadyach, Gadyach, Gadiach, Haditch, or Hadziacz, is a city in Myrhorod Raion, Poltava Oblast (province) in the central-east part of Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Hadiach urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Hadiach is located on the Psel River. Population:

Name
In addition to the Ukrainian Гадяч (Hadiach), in other languages the name of the city is Гaдяч, Hadziacz and האדיטש.

Overview
Hadiach was granted city rights in 1634. It was a city of Kiev Voivodeship, Cossack Hetmanate, and Poltava Governorate.

At times of Cossack Hetmanate, Hadiach was a residence of Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Briukhovetsky, election of which saw division of the Hetmanate along the Dnieper river (see The Ruin (Ukrainian history)).

Hadiach is one of the main points of interest to Hasidic Jews visiting Ukraine due to the old cemetery that is on the river running through the city, where Shneur Zalman of Liadi is buried.

Until 18 July 2020, Hadiach was designated as a city of oblast significance and did not belong to Hadiach Raion even though it was the center of the raion. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Poltava Oblast to four, the city was merged into Myrhorod Raion.

During the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine, there were skirmishes along this town and a Russian tank reportedly was spotted in the Psel River.

Language
Distribution of the population by native language according to the 2001 census:

In literature
The main characters in Nikolai Gogol's story Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt are from Hadiach (Gadyach in the 1957 translation by David Magarshack).

Residents

 * Mykhailo Drahomanov (1841–1895), political theorist, economist, historian, philosopher, and ethnographer
 * Olena Pchilka, mother of Lesya Ukrainka and a sister of Drahomanov