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October 18, 2026 from RT-English Website
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After years of war and unreliable alliances, the Cossacks turned to a tsar whose faith they shared and whose protection they needed...
Cossacks, townsfolk, and commanders formed a large circle and Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky stepped into the center. This was a man who had seen it all: six years of war, stunning victories and crushing defeats, burned cities and villages, and the betrayal of allies.
On that day, he offered the people a choice that
would shape their future.
The people responded with a cry,
The choice between the West and Russia is often considered a recent phenomenon.
Yet for the inhabitants of Ukraine, this choice first presented itself 400 years ago - and it was made not by politicians behind closed doors, but by the public in the middle of a town square.
This week, the Day of the Ukrainian Cossacks was
observed, and RT remembers how they first made the choice to join
Russia.
17th-century-Style Eurointegration
They referred to Orthodox Ukrainians as 'bydlo'
(cattle), stripping them of all rights.
Peasants were effectively enslaved, while many
Orthodox churches and monasteries were seized and shut down. Priests
and monks suffered persecution, humiliation, and violence.
painting by Jozef Brandt © Wikipedia / Public Domain
Many noble Orthodox families converted to Catholicism en masse - not out of conviction, but to 'become Polish'.
For example, Ieremiah Vishnevetsky, a man
from an Orthodox family whose 'conversion' was driven by a desire
for status and career advancement, became one of the primary
oppressors and tormentors of the Orthodox people.
n the expansive, fertile steppes stretching from the Dniester to the Don rivers, there was no authority to govern them. These people established their own communities and formed self-defense groups; they became known as Cossacks.
Living on the frontier, in conditions far harsher
than those of America's Wild West, they always had their weapons at
hand.
Throughout the first half of the 17th
century, uprisings frequently erupted across Ukraine, but due to the
Cossacks' poor organization and the superior military training of
the Poles, these rebellions were consistently crushed with brutal
force.
For the Polish, it seemed like there was nothing more to worry about.
However, this was a grave mistake.
At the beginning of the 17th century,
Russia had endured a brutal civil war and foreign intervention known
as the Time of Troubles. Nevertheless, it had managed to repel
external foes and was steadily regaining its strength. This
powerful, centralized Orthodox state naturally drew the attention of
the Cossacks.
At that time, there was no clear distinction
between Russians and Ukrainians; both identified as Russian, viewing
themselves as heirs to the medieval state of Kievan Rus'.
National and religious identities were intertwined, which is why Cossack leader Bogdan Khmelnitsky, in his speech at the Pereiaslav Council emphasized this unity by saying,
depicted on a 1954 Soviet stamp. © Wikipedia / Public Domain
Whenever uprisings happened, Cossack delegations went to Moscow seeking assistance.
In 1620, Cossack Hetman Pyotr Sagaidachny wrote to Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich, expressing the Cossacks' readiness to serve him. In 1624, Metropolitan Iov Boretsky of Kiev directly appealed to the Russian tsar, asking him to protect the "brotherly people" and to incorporate Malorossiya (literally, Little Russia - one of Ukraine's historical names) into Russia.
But at the beginning of the 17th
century, Russia was just recovering from the turmoil of the Time of
Troubles and was not prepared for a new war with the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, so it responded to these appeals
with caution.
After the defeat of the 1638 uprising, Hetman Yakov Ostrianin led 1,000 Cossacks and their families into Russia. He settled in Chuguev (present-day Kharkov region), where the tsarist government was constructing a new fortress, and helped repel Tatar raids on the southern frontiers alongside Russian troops.
Thus, the historical region known as
Slobozhanshchina emerged, which encompassed the modern-day
Ukrainian cities of Sumy, Kharkov, Izium, and others. Cossacks who
served the Tsar settled there, living next to the Russian forces
that were stationed in the area.
By age 50, he had a successful military career, numerous campaigns, and years of loyal service to the Polish king behind his back. In 1648, he held the rank of Cossack hundredman (similar to a company commander) in Chigirin.
However, taking advantage of Khmelnitsky's absence, the nobleman Chaplinsky seized his family estate, kidnapped his wife, and assaulted (or, according to some reports, killed) his son. When Khmelnitsky sought justice in the Polish court, he was laughed at.
From then on, Khmelnitsky sought both personal
and national revenge.
Following initial victories in the summer of 1648, Khmelnitsky reached out to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia, requesting that the Cossacks and their lands be placed "under the tsar's high hand."
However, accepting the Cossacks as subjects meant
Russia would have to engage in war with the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth, something Moscow wasn't prepared for at that time.
The conflict devastated fertile lands and claimed an increasing number of lives.
The Cossacks realized that alone, they wouldn't be able to stand up to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, then the strongest player in the region. If they were defeated, the Polish nobles would return to Ukraine and exact revenge.
Therefore, Khmelnitsky continued his diplomatic
outreach to Moscow.
write to the Sultan of Turkey' by Ilya Repin © Wikipedia / Public Domain
In late 1653, the Zemsky Sobor, a
representative assembly, decided to accept the Zaporozhian Host
under the "high hand" of the tsar. A large embassy headed by Boyar
Vasily Buturlin was dispatched to Ukraine.
According to Cossack tradition, however, such a pivotal decision could not rest solely with the elites.
So, Khmelnitsky and his comrades went to the town square and addressed the people, who eagerly embraced the news, shouting their desire to be ruled by the "Eastern Orthodox tsar."
The Cossack commanders unanimously agreed to ally
with Russia and accepted the Russian tsar as their sovereign.
Accounts of those who witnessed these events,
both on the Russian and Ukrainian side, reveal that in most cases,
Cossacks, townsfolk, and peasants enthusiastically swore loyalty to
the Russian tsar, with refusals being exceedingly rare.
The Zaporozhian Host found itself under a kind of protectorate of the Russian Tsardom, while enjoying extensive internal freedom.
The agreement, ratified by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich,
In return, the Russian Tsardom guaranteed
military protection for the Cossacks and committed to fighting
against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Just a short while before, Polish nobles had
treated the Cossacks as "cattle," humiliating and oppressing them.
Now, however, the Cossacks had freedom and were backed by the tsar's
mighty army.
by Mykola Ivasyuk, end of the 19th century © Wikipedia / Public Domain
A man of incredibly flexible views, he initially
built his career in the service of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth but later switched sides to become the personal
secretary of Bogdan Khmelnitsky.
Early on, at the stage of negotiations with Poland, figures like Colonel Martyn Pushkar and Zaporozhian Otaman Yakov Barabash opposed the decision to defect to the Polish side and betray their Orthodox brethren.
Many Cossacks and townsfolk rallied behind them.
For these individuals, returning to Polish rule
meant a return to oppression and humiliation. Vygovsky managed to
suppress this particular uprising, and commanders loyal to Russia
were killed.
For them, as for the hundreds of thousands of
Ukrainians at the time, treason against the Russian tsar and
submission to the Polish were intolerable.
Notably, in 1658, Kiev was defended from Vygovsky's troops by the combined forces of Tsarist voivode Vasily Sheremetev and Kiev colonel Vasily Dvoretsky.
As the conflict escalated, not only Cossacks but
even townspeople and ordinary peasants turned against Vygovsky's
allies. Those who had betrayed their oath to the tsar were often
punished or killed by the people.
This stands in stark contrast to Dvoretsky, whose
descendants remained influential members of the local Malorossian
elite until 1917.
© Wikipedia / Public Domain
However, at that point, Ukraine plunged into
decades of civil strife.
Under the new terms, electing a hetman or making
international decisions required the tsar's approval, and the
presence of Russian garrisons increased in Ukrainian cities.
This marked the beginning of Ukraine's own 'game of thrones'.
Subsequent hetmans and atamans followed a
familiar pattern: from declarations of loyalty to Russia to
restrictions on Cossack autonomy; from formal allegiance to betrayal
and eventual death or exile.
Russia was fighting Sweden for access to the Baltic Sea, as Sweden was the dominant power in Northern Europe at the time.
In the early years, the war proved challenging
for Russia, prompting
Hetman Ivan Mazepa, who had
been in power for over 20 years, to betray his old ally, Tsar
Peter the Great, and ally himself with Swedish King
Charles XII (whom he believed
would emerge as the victor).
However, Peter the Great trusted his old friend so much that he dismissed their warnings.
Kochubey and Iskra were executed, but once
Mazepa's treachery came to light, they were posthumously
rehabilitated; the Kochubey family later received a noble title and
several military and state leaders of the Russian Empire were
descended from it.
at Dnieper after the Battle of Poltava, painting by Gustaf Cederström (1880) © Wikipedia / Public Domain
Notably, only a few thousand people followed him. When it became clear that this was not merely a campaign but outright betrayal, the ranks of Mazepa's supporters dwindled even further.
In his first address to the Cossacks, the new hetman Ivan Skoropadsky asserted that,
Modern Ukrainian historians tend to romanticize Mazepa as a champion of freedom and independence, but this portrayal is misleading.
Mazepa and his circle were simply looking for a new master, driven by a false sense of Russia's vulnerability.
In reality, the people of Ukraine remained steadfastly loyal to Russia and the Orthodox Tsar, with Cossack regiments fighting side by side with tsarist forces during the legendary Battle of Poltava.
Despite the unwavering loyalty of the vast majority of Cossacks, the treachery of their leaders became increasingly audacious.
In 1722, Peter the Great established the Collegium of Little Russia, essentially a ministry for Ukrainian affairs. The position of hetman was alternately abolished and reinstated, but the Cossacks' autonomy was steadily curbed.
Those who failed to grasp that times had changed,
like the appointed hetman Pavel Polubotok, found themselves
imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Cossack leaders began integrating into the
imperial elite, a shift that, for many of them, proved more
beneficial than the semblance of freedom.
at the Porte Saint-Martin in Paris in 1814. © Wikipedia / Public Domain
The list of the descendants of the Cossacks who
achieved high office in the Russian Empire goes on and on.
There were numerous reasons for this loyalty.
A shared identity and faith made rapprochement with Moscow natural; fear of foreign lords, khans, and sultans united the Cossacks under Russian banners.
Moreover, social interests and career aspirations
made serving the empire appealing. Some were driven by sincere
motives; others acted out of fear or personal gain.
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