FRANK'S COMPULSIVE GUIDE TO POSTAL ADDRESSES

Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet Republics have subdivisions called (in the nominative singular): Область (Oblast = Region), Автомная область (Avtonomnaya oblast = Autonomous region), Автомный округ (Avtonomnyy okrug = Autonomous province), Город (Gorod = City), Край (Kray = Territory), Місто (Ukrainian: Misto = Independent city), or Республик (Respublik = Republic).

In Russia alone (the largest country on earth, by far), there are approximately 89 subdivisions. In Ukraine, about 25; Belarus: 7, and so on. The subdivision (oblast, kray, etc) should be included when the mail is not addressed to a large city (regional center, capital of oblast, independent city, etc). In Ukraine, for example, mail being sent to Zaporozhye, Kharkov, Kiev, Chernigov or any other regional center (capital of oblast) does not require any indication of oblast (nobody addresses mail to "Kiev, Kievskaya oblast" or "Vinnitsa, Vinnitskaya oblast", etc. However, if mail is being sent to, say, Pology, which is a district center within Zaporozhye oblast, there should be an indication of oblast (Zaporozhskaya oblast). Examples:

Latin Cyrillic
A.P. Federenko
P.O.Box 987
72319 Melitopol-19
Zaporozhskaya obl.
UKRAINE
А.П. Федеренко
а/я 987
72319 Мелитополь-19
Запорожская обл.
UKRAINE
A.P. Federenko
ul. Timoshenko, 26-17    
04212 KIEV-212
UKRAINE
А.П. Федеренко
ул. Тимошенко, 26 кв. 17
04212 Киев-212
UKRAINE

"ul." stands for "ulitsa" (улица) = street. There are no abbreviations for subdivisions in Russia or Ukraine like the ones in the USA for states. However, shortening for some regions (oblast) are accepted and understood, e.g."Moskovskaya oblast" - "Mosk. obl." or "MO". Postal codes are required everywhere.

Latin Cyrillic
Izdatelstvo "Inostrannyi Yazik"   
ul. Myasnitskaya, 10 str. 1
101000 MOSKVA
RUSSIA
Издательство "Иностранный язык"
ул. Мясницкая, 10 стр.
101000 Москва
RUSSIA
Ivan Sidorov
ul. Prorizna, 29 kv. 6
01001 KIEV-1
UKRAINE
Иван Сидоров
ул. Прорезная, 29 кв. 6
01001 Киев-1
UKRAINE