{
  "place_id": "starobilsk#7737_12160",
  "wikidata": "Q987345",
  "country": "UA",
  "local_name": "Старобільськ",
  "names": {
    "en": {
      "main": "Starobilsk",
      "why": "Current Ukrainian name in the national romanization adopted in 2010; the same system was adopted by BGN/PCGN in 2019.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Starobil’s’k",
          "why": "Older Ukrainian transcription preserving both soft signs. BGN/PCGN 1965 Ukrainian transliteration, superseded for US/UK geographical use in 2019; supplied as a technical retrieval form."
        },
        {
          "name": "Starobil's'k",
          "why": "ASCII version of the soft-sign transcription."
        },
        {
          "name": "Starobelsk",
          "why": "Russian-based form, especially common in histories of Polish prisoners of war."
        },
        {
          "name": "Starobielsk",
          "why": "Polish spelling widely used in English accounts of the Soviet prisoner-of-war camp."
        },
        {
          "name": "Starobìlʹsʹk",
          "why": "ISO 9:1995 character transliteration of the Ukrainian name; a technical search form, not an independently attested English exonym."
        },
        {
          "name": "Starobilʹsʹk",
          "why": "ALA-LC Ukrainian table, 2011 edition, with its bibliographic diacritics; a catalogue retrieval form rather than a separate English exonym."
        }
      ]
    },
    "fr": {
      "main": "Starobilsk",
      "why": "Same as in English; retain this spelling in French. No separate French exonym is selected.",
      "alternatives": [
        {
          "name": "Starobielsk",
          "why": "Polish historical spelling familiar in French accounts of Polish prisoners and the Katyn massacres."
        },
        {
          "name": "Starobelsk",
          "why": "Russian-based form also found in French historical accounts."
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "about_en": "Starobilsk is a town on the Aidar River in northern Luhansk Oblast. Its monastery and market-town past are important landmarks in the history of the surrounding steppe region.",
  "about_fr": "",
  "certainty": "high",
  "notes": "The Polish historical name is relevant to the prisoner-of-war camp; it does not indicate a current Polish-language official name.",
  "rank": 519,
  "slug": "starobilsk"
}