CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CITY STATUS: CITY OF REPUBLICAN SIGNIFICANCE. NUMBER OF RESIDENTS, THOUSAND PEOPLE: 379.5 TOTAL AREA, SQ. KM: 1079.6; (by land: 863.5 sq. km) DENSITY OF POPULATION (persons per 1 sq. km): 439 TOTAL NUMBER OF SETTLEMENTS: 29 The city of Sevastopol is an administrative and territorial unit of Ukraine with a special status, which includes four districts (Leninskyy, Nakhimoskyy, Balaklavskyy, and Gagarinskyy), city of Inkerman (city of district significance), and 29 villages and settlements. Sevastopol is one of the biggest non-freezing commercial and fishing seaports. It is an industrial, scientific, technical, recreational, cultural and historical center in the south of Ukraine. The city is situated in the south-western part of the Crimean peninsula on the same latitude as the Italian city of Milan and the French city of Lion. The distance from Sevastopol to Kyiv is 1,050 km, 1,500 km to Moscow, 85 km to Yalta, 490 km to Istanbul, 1,700 km to Rome, 2,100 to Marseille, 2,400 km to Paris, and 2,800 km to London. The Sevastopol region borders with the Bakhchysaray rayon in the north-east and with the Greater Yalta in the south-east. The region is washed by the warm waters of the Black Sea in the west and south. The total land area of the Sevastopol region constitutes 863.5 sq. km, of which 12% are inhabited, 29% are occupied by agricultiural lands, 41% are occupied by forests and noubtains, 25% are represented by the industrial and residential districts, and 6% (57 sq. km) are occuiped by the main naval base housing army units and vessels of the Ukrainian Naval Forces and Russian Black Sea Fleet, vessels of the Ukrainian State Border Guards, and Ukrainian research vessels. The city occupies a vast twenty-kilometer coastal territory and stretches for 50 km from Cape Sarych, the southernmost point of Ukraine, and the Crimea to the north. The length of the city from the west to the east is 43 km. The coastal line stretches for 152 km, with the length of the land frontier being 106 km. The extreme points of the city are: Cape Lukull in the north, Cape Sarych in the south, Cape Chersonese in the west, and the woodland territory with the Tez-Bair Mountain on the Ai-Petri mountain pasture. The Ukrainian maritime State Boundary runs for 143 km across the territory of the Sevastopol region. The territory where the central part of the city is situated is characterised by the rolling relief surface. It is serrated by deep ravines running into deep-water sea bays. There are about 30 bays within the territory of the region. The bays are well protected from winds by hills and have convenient navigation channels. The territory of the internal bays occupies 216 sq. km of the total water area. The climate on the territory of the Sevastopol region is similar to the Mediterranean subtropical climate of the Southern Coast of the Crimea. The average monthly temperature throughout the year is always above zero. The city has warm humid winters. The average winter temperature varies from + 2 to + 7 degrees Centigrade. The coldest month is January with the average temperature of +1.3 .С and the warmest one is July with +23.2 .С. The temperature of the surface layer of water in the Black Sea near the Sevastopol sea coast is also always above zero throughout the year, with the average of 22.2 .С in July. Summers are dry and hot. July is the hottest month. The summer heat is usually softened by sea breezes. Atmospheric precipitations are uneven varying from 280 to 400 mm per year. The amount of annual precipitation in different parts of the region varies from 300 mm per year on the Herakleiskyi Peninsula to 1200 mm per year in top mountains of the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains. There are more than 2 thousand archaeological, historic, cultural, art, and natural monuments on the territory of the city including Ukrainian, Russian, British, French, Italian, Jewish, Georgian, Armenian, Greek, and German monuments, and many others. Such monuments as the Tavria Chersonese, the Panorama of the Heroic Defence Campaign of Sevastopol of 1854 – 1855, the Sapun Maintain Attack of May 7, 1944 Diorama, the British Crimean War Memorial and other are known all over the world. The city has a network of theatres, houses of culture, museums, and stadiums. On average, about five hundred tourists visit Sevastopol every year. The scientific and education base of the city is represented by a number of research institutes and technical design institutions including the Research Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Sevastopol State Technical University, Sevastopol Institute of Nuclear Energy, and Sevastopol Naval institute. .