Polish-Ukrainian war.

Prerequisites

The Old Russian Principality of Galicia became part of the Kingdom of Poland in the 14th century and then, along with Volhynia, became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as Polish crown lands, while Transcarpathia, inhabited by Rusyns, was part of Hungary among its Slovak provinces. With the partition of Poland in 1772, Galicia became part of Austria (then Austria-Hungary) as the eastern part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. In 1775, Bukovina, a historically Romanian (Moldavian) region annexed by Russia from Turkey and then ceded by it to Austria, also became part of it as the Chernivtsi district. Throughout the 19th century, there was a political and cultural struggle in Galicia between the Ruthenians and the Poles. The west of the region was inhabited by Poles, and the east by Ukrainians; Moreover, in the east there were several ethnically Polish enclaves, the largest of which was Lviv and its surrounding area. In the city of Lvov (Lemberg), by the beginning of the twentieth century, the number of Poles was more than three times greater than the number of Ukrainians; the city was considered one of the Polish cultural capitals. Poles predominated in Eastern Galicia among the urban population and the elite (especially the landowning elite), which supported their idea of ​​Galicia as an entirely Polish land. In total, according to the 1910 census, in Eastern Galicia, out of 5.3 million inhabitants, 39.8% indicated Polish as their native language, 58.9% indicated Ukrainian as their native language; however, these statistics are suspected of bias, since the officials conducting the census were mainly ethnic Poles. In addition, the Polish-speaking population also includes ethnic Jews.

The situation in October 1918

On October 7, the Regency Council in Warsaw announced a plan to restore Poland's independence, and on October 9, Polish deputies of the Austrian parliament decided to unite the former lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, including Galicia, within Poland. In response to this, the very next day (October 10), the Ukrainian faction led by Yevgeny Petrushevich decided to convene the Ukrainian National Council - the parliament of Ukrainians of Austria-Hungary - in Lviv. This Council (ONS) was created on 18 October. Its chairman was considered Petrushevich, who, however, carried out diplomatic work in Vienna; in fact, the work on the spot was carried out by the Galician delegation of the council, headed by Kost Levitsky. The Council declared its goal to create a Ukrainian state on the territory of Galicia, Bukovina and Transcarpathia. The support of the Council was the Ukrainian national units of the Austrian army - the regiments of the Sich Riflemen. At the same time, the Poles, accustomed to considering all of Galicia as Polish land, hoped for its annexation to Poland. Polish created in Krakow liquidation commission(for the Polish regions of the empire) intended to move to Lvov and there proclaim the annexation of the Polish provinces of Austria-Hungary (Lesser Poland and Galicia) to the revived Poland.

The proclamation of the Ukrainian state was scheduled for November 3, but the news of the plans of the Krakow commission forced the Ukrainians to hurry.

Proclamation of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic and the resistance of the Poles

On the night of November 1, 1918, units of the Sichev Riflemen (Ukrainian national units in the Austrian army) proclaimed the power of the UNS in Lviv, Stanislaviv, Ternopol, Zolochev, Sokal, Rava-Russka, Kolomyia, Snyatyn and Pechenezhen. The Austro-Hungarian governor in Lviv transferred power to the vice-governor Vladimir Detskevich, recognized by the ONS. On November 3, the ONS issued a manifesto for the independence of Galicia.

The performance of the Ukrainian sicheviks was a surprise for the Galician Poles, who were confident that Galicia would be transferred to Poland. Waking up on the morning of November 1, they found Ukrainian yellow-blue flags on all public buildings. Then, on November 1, 1918, in Lviv, local Poles took up arms under the command of centurion Monchinsky. Clashes between Poles and Ukrainians also occurred in Drohobych, Sambir, Przemysl and other cities. Since the Ukrainian forces (represented by the Sich Riflemen) in Galicia at that moment were noticeably superior to the Polish ones, at first the Ukrainians had the upper hand. The fighting in Lvov became especially fierce. Initially, only 200 world war veterans from the Polish Military Organization, who had 64 rifles and were based in the school named after. Sienkiewicz on the western outskirts of the city; however, the very next day the ranks of the Polish defenders of Lvov numbered 6,000 people, of which 1,400 were teenage scouts, high school students and students who received the nickname “Lviv eaglets” for their bravery (the most famous among them was 13-year-old Antos Petrykevich, who died in battle and posthumously awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari). Until the end of 1918, military assistance to the Polish uprising was provided mainly by Polish Western Galicia, and after November 11, 1918, especially from the beginning of 1919, by restored Poland. On November 3, regiments of sicheviks were assembled in Lviv to fight the Polish residents. Nevertheless, by November 6, the Poles controlled half of Lvov. At this time, in the central quarters of the city, controlled by the Ukrainians, the formation of the authorities of the new state took place. On November 8, the ONS formed the government of the future WUNR - the Provisional State Secretariat, headed by K. Levitsky. On November 10, the ZUNR was officially created, and a day later, on November 12, Evgeniy Petrushevich was proclaimed its president, and Levitsky was proclaimed prime minister.

In parallel, the restoration of Polish statehood proceeded. On November 11, the restoration of Polish independence was proclaimed in Warsaw. The new government immediately sent its existing military units to Galicia. On the same day, Romanian troops entered the capital of Bukovina, Chernivtsi, where on November 6 power passed to the Regional Committee of the UNS.

Progress of the war

On November 12, units sent by the new Polish government, under the command of Major Waclaw Staczewski, occupied Przemysl. The commander of the Ukrainian troops in Lviv, Colonel G. Stefanov, fearing the approach of the Poles and the release of the blockade of Polish quarters, tried to eliminate the resistance of the Lviv residents.

On November 13, in Lviv, the Ukrainians attempted a decisive attack on the Polish quarters, which, however, was not crowned with success.

21 November 1918 Polish 5th infantry regiment under the command of Major Michal Karshevich-Tokarzhevsky (a Lviv native) broke into Lviv from Przemysl, lifting the siege of Polish quarters by Ukrainians. The Poles occupied the cemetery - a strategically key point in the city. On the night of November 22, Colonel Stefanov ordered the Ukrainian units to leave Lviv. The leadership of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic fled to Ternopil, and from there to Stanislaviv. On the same day, the Poles took Khyrov. The capture of Lvov by the Poles was accompanied by a pogrom against Jews, despite the fact that the Jews remained neutral in this struggle.

During November 22 - 25, elections were held for 150 members of the ONS, which was supposed to act as a legislative body. Almost a third of the seats were reserved for national minorities (primarily Poles and Jews). The Poles boycotted the elections, in contrast to the Jews, who made up almost 10% of the deputies.

Outside Lvov, fighting with the Poles dragged on on the western borders of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. Since November 1918, the main battles were fought around Lvov; At the end of November, Polish troops took the city of Rava-Russkaya, after which they went on the defensive along the entire front. The fighting centered around Przemysl. The Ukrainians tried with all their might to take this city, as a result of which the Lviv group of Poles (stretched out in a long and narrow ledge) would be cut off from Krakow and the main territory and surrounded. On December 4 they succeeded, but already on December 11 Przemysl was again in the hands of the Poles. The front has stabilized along the line: r. Tesnaya-Khyrov-Przemysl-Lvov-Yaroslav-Lubachev-Rava Russkaya-Belz-Krylov. Overall, he maintained this configuration until May of the following year.

In December, the Ukrainians organized combat groups, later corps of the Galician Army. E. Petrushevich’s decree on the creation of the Ukrainian Galician Army followed in January 1919. For its part, there was a rapid organization of the national army in Poland.

At the beginning of January, in the western and northern directions, the Poles captured the cities of Ugnov and Belz and took possession of the Yaroslav-Rava-Russkaya railway, which allowed them to carry out new operations in the future.

After two unsuccessful Ukrainian attacks on Lviv in November 1918 and early January 1919, the Main Headquarters of the UGA decided to destroy the railway track between Lviv and Przemysl. Further advances were hampered by the military mission of the Entente, which demanded a truce in the region. At the end of winter of the same year, fire temporarily ceased on the Polish-Ukrainian front.

At the same time, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic suffered defeats from the Czechoslovaks. On January 14 - 23, the UGA made a campaign in Transcarpathia, but was defeated by the Czechoslovak army. On January 15, 1919, the main city of Transcarpathia, Uzhgorod, was occupied by Czechoslovak troops.

At the same time, the process of unification of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic with the UPR, or more precisely with the Directory of Simon Petlyura, took place. The unification was proclaimed on January 3, 1919; On January 22, the “Act of Zluka” was signed, and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic became part of the Ukrainian People's Republic as the Western Region of the Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR).

On January 28, after a solemn rally in Kyiv and the official announcement of the reunification of Ukraine, S. Petliura sent weapons, ammunition and several military leaders to the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. However, the help from Petlyura did not last long. Already in February, the absolute lack of ammunition forced the Ukrainian units to retreat to their original positions in the triangle between Zbruch and the Dniester.

On March 18, the operation to capture Lvov failed and the Poles themselves began an offensive to the east of the ZUNR.

On March 19, the Poles took possession of the Lviv-Przemysl railway line. The proposal of the alliance (Council of Four) to establish a common border (demarcation line of General L. Botha) was accepted General Staff Galician Army, but the Poles did not support him.

In April, General Józef Haller's army of 80,000 men, formed after the First World War from citizens of the Central Powers and Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war, arrived in Poland. Part of this army (35,000 people) was sent to the Ukrainian front. The French protested against sending an army they had formed and armed to the Ukrainian front, which they viewed as intended exclusively to fight the Bolsheviks. Pilsudski responded that “all Ukrainians are Bolsheviks or something like that.” The arrival of Haller's army made the situation of the Ukrainians completely hopeless.

End of the war

On May 25, a new front line appeared: Bolekhov-Khodorov-Bobrka-Buzhsk; Some UGA formations (the first mountain brigade and the Glubokaya group) lost contact with the main forces and were forced to move to Transcarpathia. At the same time, the Romanian army captured the southeastern territory of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. This forced the Galician Army to retreat to the northeastern part of Galicia, enclosed by the Zbruch and Dniester rivers.

On May 2, Poland carried out a large-scale offensive, as a result of which it occupied 80% of the territory of Galicia. In the east, Petliura's army was retreating under the pressure of Soviet troops.

On May 7, the Ukrainian SSR demanded that the ZUNR cease hostilities and establish a demarcation line between the republics.

On May 9, the Ukrainian SSR turned to the Ukrainians in the ZUNR with a demand to rebel against the authorities and a promise to help in the war against Poland.

After a short rest and reorganization, the Ukrainian units under the command of General M. Grekov, who then headed the CAA, launched the so-called “Chortkiv Offensive” on June 7. With successful battles they were driven back Polish forces on the line Dniester River-Gnilaya Lipa-Peremyshlyany-Pidkamen, which aroused enthusiasm among the soldiers. This offensive forced the Western Ukrainian People's Republic to refrain from a truce and the establishment of a demarcation line (Delvig line).

On June 28, the Poles launched a counteroffensive. Meanwhile, the president of the ZUNR, Yevgeny Petrushevich, received the powers of a dictator.

On July 16 - 18, 50,000 UGA soldiers retreated beyond the Zbruch to help the UPR in the fight against the Bolsheviks. Some of the troops fled to Czechoslovakia, becoming the famous “Ukrainian Brigade”.

On October 1, Poland and the UPR concluded an alliance agreement, establishing the border between Ukrainian and Polish troops along the line Korets-Slavuta-Izyaslav-Bazalia-Gusyatin-Kamenets-Podolsky.

Bottom line

About 10,000 Poles and 15,000 Ukrainians died in the war. As a result of the war, the territory claimed by the WUNR government was divided between Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia. On April 21, 1920, the UPR and Poland agreed on a common border, but in fact at this time Petliura could no longer independently control the Ukrainian territory, and with the expulsion of the Polish army from Ukraine in July-August of this year, the UPR ceased to exist. According to the Treaty of Riga of 1921, the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR recognized all of Galicia under the control of Poland, as France had planned, for 25 years.

Eastern Galicia was occupied by the Red Army in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and then annexed to the Ukrainian SSR; in June 1940 the same was done with Bukovina. After World War II, Przemysl and Nadsyanie again became part of Poland.

Support of the parties

Poland support:

Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Western Ukrainian People's Republic and Ukrainian People's Republic took part in the war. At the same time, however, it should be borne in mind that the Ukrainians were actually in international isolation, and could only use those weapons and ammunition that they got from the property of the Austro-Hungarian and old Russian armies, while Poland, of their opponents, enjoyed widespread material support Entente (especially France), and Romania was generally a member of this union. However, the Romanians and Czechoslovaks did not coordinate their actions with the Poles, considering the ZUNR not unrecognized state, but only an obstacle to the annexation of territories originally inhabited by their peoples to their states.

ZUNR support:

At the beginning of the war, no one supported the ZUNR, but over time it was supported by the UNR, which itself was drawn into this war by the “act of evil.” S. Petlyura included in his army the Ukrainian soldiers who fled to the east after the defeat of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. E. Petrushevich turned to the United States for help, however, having received nothing, he abandoned this venture. The Ukrainian SSR demanded that the Ukrainian population of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic overthrow the authorities, in return for which it promised military support from its side and from the Hungarian Soviet Republic.

Other facts

In the 1920s, the “Eaglets Memorial” was built in Lviv, where the ashes of adults and teenagers who died in the battles for Poland were placed. One of the streets in Lviv, the current Kulparkivska, was named Lviv Defenders Street in 1938 in memory of the Poles who died during the war; the current Gvardeyska Street was named Peowiakov in honor of the members of the Polish Military Organization (POW) who took part in the war. [Materials used]

Photo album - Defense of Lviv

Response code is 400

Polish-Ukrainian War

By the end of the First World War, in the context of the collapse of three empires - Russian, German and Austro-Hungarian, the prospects of gaining independence dawned on the Poles and Ukrainians. However, territorial disputes between neighbors turned out to be an obstacle on this path.

Background

In January 1918, Ukraine proclaimed the creation of its own state - the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR). The idea of ​​a “Conciliar Ukraine”, uniting all ethnic Ukrainian lands “from Poprad and Dunajec to the Caucasus” was no longer among the priority tasks of the liberation movement; the fact of preserving an independent Ukrainian state and its recognition in the world was more important.

Poland had no less ambitious plans. Having begun a gradual path towards restoring the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under the leadership of Józef Pilsudski, she sought to unite Gdansk Pomerania, Masuria, Warmia, the lands of the former Duchy of Poznan with Silesia, Lithuania and Belarus in her state.

One of the main problems of the territorial claims of both powers was the issue of Polish-Ukrainian delimitation. The stumbling block was Eastern Galicia, which was previously part of Austria-Hungary, as well as the Kholm region, Podlasie and Volyn, which had recently been under the rule of Russian Empire.

The Ukrainian National Council justified its claims to the disputed territories by the predominance of the Ukrainian ethnic group in them. The Polish authorities pointed to the active polonization of this region and, as a result, the geopolitical justification for the return of the historical regions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The situation was especially tense in Eastern Galicia, gripped by cultural confrontations between Poles and Ukrainians. But if in rural areas the composition of the Ukrainian population reached 90%, then in cities it did not exceed 20%.

The issue of Polish-Ukrainian delimitation entered an active phase on October 9, 1918, when Polish deputies of the Austrian parliament decided to unite all disputed territories within the new state. In response, the Ukrainian National Council set itself the goal of creating a eastern territories Austria-Hungary has its own state with its capital in Lviv. It quickly became clear that the territorial dispute could only be resolved by force.

Battle for Lviv

On the night of November 1, detachments of Sichev Riflemen (Ukrainian units in the Austrian army) in the amount of 1,500 people entered Lviv. For the Austrian authorities of the capital of Eastern Galicia, the invasion was a complete surprise. In one night, Ukrainian troops occupied all the most important institutions of the city without a fight: the Sejm, the military headquarters building, the barracks, the train station, the post office; The commandant general was taken under arrest and the garrison was disarmed. Before morning came, other Austrian possessions came under Ukrainian control: Stanislavov (Ivano-Frankivsk), Ternopil, Kolomyia, Sokal, Borislav.

On the same day, clashes between Poles and Ukrainians began in Przemysl, and early in the morning of November 2, the first shots were heard in Lviv. At first, 200 veterans of the “Polish Military Organization” resisted the Ukrainian units, but after the seizure of the weapons warehouse, they managed to arm the militia, mostly young people - students and high school students.

On November 3, the headquarters of the uprising, Narodny, was created in Lvov Polish committee, and the city commandant, Czeslaw Monczynski, was also elected. Polish militias tried to recapture the Sejm and post office, but their attacks encountered desperate resistance from the Sich. By that time, the Poles of Lviv managed to gather 1,150 fighters, the total number of Ukrainian troops reached 2,050 people. The Poles managed to offset the superiority of Ukrainians in numbers due to their superiority in personnel: 500 officers versus 70.

The war divided many families. It happened that in a Polish family one of the sons could call himself a “Ukrainian”, and the other could join the ranks of the Polish rebels. Thus, Colonel Wladislav Sikorsky, the future general and prime minister of Poland, fought on the side of the Poles. His cousin Lev Sikorsky joined the Ukrainian units.

After a short lull, the second stage of the battle for Lviv began on November 5. Polish troops tried to gain an advantage by covering the city center from the north, west and south. There were fierce battles for strategically important areas - the Citadel, Ferdinand's barracks, the cadet school, the Jesuit Park, and the post office.

Ukrainian authorities used the time to mobilize the population into the Ukrainian Galician Army (UGA). At the same time, political decisions were made. On November 13, the state of Western Ukraine was proclaimed - the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (WUNR), which considered Eastern Galicia, Northern Bukovina and Transcarpathia as its territory. Evgeniy Petrushevich became the president of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic.

Long and unsuccessful battles for Lviv forced both sides to agree to a truce. On November 17, a two-day ceasefire was signed. The Ukrainians were able to raise additional forces these days. The Poles did not lag behind, having captured Przemysl, they sent 1,400 infantry, 8 artillery pieces and 11 machine guns. But the main striking force of the Polish army was the armored train. The superiority of the Poles loomed: 5,800 fighters against 4,600 CAA soldiers, which contributed to the rapid return of control to Lvov.

Protracted standoff

By December 1918, the front of the Polish-Ukrainian confrontation stretched over 200 km. The Galician army was actively supported by the Directory, which took power in Kyiv. She sent to Galicia not only significant cash, but also supplied weapons: 20 thousand rifles, 300 machine guns, 80 cannons, 20 aircraft. The UPR Minister of War, Symon Petlyura, made plans to transfer most of the republic’s troops to the front.

On January 21, 1919, the Ukrainian army launched an active offensive, capturing Kovel and Vladimir-Volynsky. However, the fight against the Bolsheviks, who became more active in the rear, did not allow the success to be developed. The Poles took advantage of the moment and organized a general offensive along the northern part of the front. However, the Polish army was unable to make progress, weakened by the border conflict with Czechoslovakia.

In February, the epicenter of the confrontation again moved to Lviv. The leadership of the UGA developed an operation plan in which the main attack on Lviv would be delivered from the village of Vovchukha. They were going to take the city at any cost. A powerful surge followed on February 16th. After two days of fierce fighting, the UGA cut off the Przemysl-Lviv railway line, depriving the Polish troops of a vital supply channel. Lvov was preparing to surrender. The situation was turned around by the urgent transfer of more than 10,000 soldiers from Poland, thanks to which the front line that existed before the Vovchukhov operation was restored.

At the end of winter, a peacekeeping mission of the Entente countries, headed by General Barthelemy, arrived in Lviv. The French military leader offered the services of a mediator in resolving the Galician conflict, imposing his line of division between the two sides. The “Barthelemy Line,” according to which the oil-bearing region of Drohobych and Lvov were transferred to Poland, was categorically not suitable for the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic. Negotiations failed, and at the beginning of March 1919, fighting resumed with renewed vigor.

Fracture

For a long time, neither side could achieve a strategic advantage, and the conflict was already threatening to develop into a protracted war. But in early April, the UGA began to lose ground - the overexertion of forces was taking its toll. Suffering one defeat after another from the Red Army, the UPR could no longer support the Galician Army. Poland, on the contrary, received support from the Entente.

Józef Haller's Blue Army of 70 thousand people arrived in Galicia, armed French tanks and by plane. The Ukrainian infantry and cavalry could do little to prevent the enemy, which was superior in strength and equipment. An eyewitness to the events recalled: “entire groups and lone fighters are walking, walking through fields and vegetable gardens. Everyone is running at the same time with weapons... There is no strength to stop this flight.”

Evgeniy Petrushevich, who took the helm of the CAA, was able to briefly stop the collapse. The Ukrainian army regained lost positions in some sectors of the front, but on June 25 the Polish army launched a general counteroffensive. By mid-July, the remnants of the UGA were squeezed from the west by Polish troops, and from the east by units of the Red Army.

This was the conclusion of the war, which lasted more than 8 months. A total of over 190 thousand soldiers fought on the side of Poland, the forces of the Ukrainian army amounted to about 112 thousand people. The Poles lost 15,000 soldiers in this war, the Ukrainians - 10,000. The defeat of the CAA led to Poland establishing complete control over the territory of Eastern Galicia. At the same time, Bukovina went to Romania, and Transcarpathia became part of Czechoslovakia. On April 21, 1920, a border was established between Poland and the UPR along the Zbruch River.

On July 11, Poland celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Volyn massacre, which in Ukraine is called the Volyn tragedy. In Volyn, ethnic cleansing, officially approved by the leadership of the OUN(b) in the spring of 1943, reached its peak on July 11, 1943. On that day, UPA militants (OUN and UPA are organizations banned in the Russian Federation - editor's note) attacked 167 villages and towns of Volyn populated by Poles. Total number UPA victims among the Polish population of Western Ukraine are estimated at up to 100 thousand civilians. At the same time, Polish self-defense units, including as revenge, killed 2-3 thousand Ukrainians, the number is 5 thousand.

In 2016, July 11 was declared in Poland as the National Day of Remembrance of the victims of the genocide of citizens of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth committed by Ukrainian nationalists. The Ukrainian authorities categorically disagree with this formulation.

On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Volyn massacre, July 8, the presidents of Poland and Ukraine, without interfering with each other, made visits “to each other.” Andrzej Duda visited Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko visited Poland. Previously, the media in Volyn reported that joint events were planned between the Polish and Ukrainian sides, but there were none - it turned out to be impossible to hold anything together.

The Ukrainian side, indeed, offered the Poles to organize certain events together. The proposal came from the administration of the Ukrainian president. “However, we received a refusal,” a source in the Administration of the President of Ukraine reports. “That is why we decided to organize separate events with the participation of the President of Ukraine, who will travel to Poland that day.”

The reason for this disconnect is simple. Poroshenko, being under constant pressure " public opinion nationalists,” cannot recognize black as black, ethnic cleansing as ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, Duda, while in Ukraine on July 8, in the village of Olyka in Volyn, said about the day of July 11: “In Poland, this will be the National Day of Remembrance of the victims of the genocide committed in Volyn against the Poles by Ukrainian nationalists.” He was not satisfied with this and emphasized: “This was not a war between Poland and Ukraine - it was ordinary ethnic cleansing, as we would call it today. It was simply about eliminating the Poles from those territories... The consequence of this was actions in response from the Polish side... The disproportion itself is impressive: about 100 thousand Poles and about 5 thousand Ukrainians (died). She really makes a huge impression. And this, excuse me, is the historical truth.”

Regarding the “friendship” between Ukraine and Poland, Andrzej Duda said that this friendship can only be based “on the truth.” He meant - to the Polish truth, which the regime established in Kyiv Ukrainian nationalists(whoever they are ethnically key figures this regime) cannot recognize. And above all, Poroshenko cannot admit this truth, who will not risk going to the 2019 presidential elections without the support of the Ukrainian nationalist lobby.

On this day, July 8, Poroshenko was present in Poland, in the village of Sagryn, at the opening of a memorial “in memory of Ukrainians who died at the hands of Polish peasant battalions and units of the Home Army in 1944.” The Ukrainian president called on the Polish authorities to make changes to Polish legislation; he is not satisfied with the “Polish truth”. He formulated his wish in such a way as not to offend the Poles and so that in the eyes of Ukrainian radical nationalists it would look like a nod to them: “We support initiatives to revise the known changes in the Polish legislation on the Institute of National Remembrance and expect that the provisions regarding the assessment will also be revised Ukrainians."

Poroshenko is desperately disingenuous: the Poles do not blame Ukrainians in general for genocide,” but Ukrainian nationalists.

Meanwhile, the point of view of Ukrainian nationalists is unchanged: the leaders of the UPA are heroes. Moreover: the glorification of the leaders of the UPA is part of the official Ukrainian ideology. In honor of the “heroes of the UPA” there should be monuments throughout Ukraine, streets and squares should bear their names. Przemysl city and certain territories, which went to Poland, should belong to Ukraine, “because they are Ukrainian.”

One of the leaders of the “Right Sector” banned in Russia, A. Tarasenko, recently ranted on the topic of different views on history in Ukraine and Poland. Contrary to the documents, Tarasenko “absolutely disagrees” with the fact that the Volyn massacre was a “planned action against the Polish people” and that “the UPA bears responsibility for these events.” Meanwhile, it has long been known, including from the materials of the Nuremberg Tribunal, that the idea of ​​​​creating a Ukrainian “insurgent movement” (the prototype of the UPA) on the territory of Poland arose among the leaders of the Third Reich in 1939 with the aim of organizing mass murders of both Polish Jews and Poles. And it has long been no secret that the entire leadership of the OUN was recruited by the Nazi intelligence services back in the 1930s.

The ideologist of Ukrainian nationalists assures that the atrocities of the UPA (they write in quotation marks “the atrocities of the UPA”) and “myths like the “Volyn massacre” - both then and now” - are beneficial to Moscow. Nationalists agree only to streamlined formulas: “There were isolated cases on both sides of, let’s say, everyday hatred, which resulted in chaos. This is war! In what war did such cases not occur?

There is evidence of atrocities of other kinds. Andrzej Duda made an offer to Ukraine, prefacing it with assurances of friendship: “As the President of Poland,” Duda said, “I ask you to help identify these graves. So that here we are allowed to carry out the appropriate work to identify the bodies of the dead. “We are also ready to meet halfway and provide Ukraine with permits for the relevant work at the burial sites of Ukrainians in Poland.” This would mean that the graves will once again tell the truth about the “heroes of the UPA” who did not spare babies, cut and hacked people into pieces, ripped open the bellies of children and pregnant women, drove nails into their heads, raped girls...

The crisis in relations between Poland and Ukraine is in the developing stage. It is impossible in principle to overcome it under the nationalist regime established in Ukraine after the 2014 coup.

As a result of the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic was created on the territory of Galicia, which on January 22, 1919 proclaimed the Act of Unification with the UPR. Poland, which regained its independence in 1918 as a result of the collapse of Austria-Hungary, tried to regain Ukrainian lands, which became the cause of the Polish-Ukrainian war.
Armed conflict between the Polish Republic and Western Ukrainian People's Republic on the territory of Galicia, which resulted in large-scale hostilities from November 1, 1918 to July 17, 1919. The war was fought in conditions of instability caused by the collapse of Austria-Hungary, the collapse of the Russian Empire and Civil War in Russia.

From the Polish side, she fought on the Polish-Ukrainian front special group troops "Vostok", created on November 15. By the end of 1918, the group had concentrated 21,000 soldiers and 50 artillery pieces; by March 1919 this figure had risen to 37,500 men and 200 guns. By mid-1919, a total of 190,000 people were concentrated in Galicia. The “East” group included Lvov units, units of Becker, Yarosh, Zelinsky, Slupsky, Svoboda, Hupert-Mondelsky, Vecherkevich, Minkevich, Verbetsky and Kulinsky. In addition, in the spring of 1919, Józef Haller's Blue Army arrived in Galicia, armed with French tanks and aircraft.

Poland's military equipment and aircraft were of Austrian and German origin. What ended up on Polish territory by the time the state declared its independence in November 1918 was used by the Poles in the war against the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. From aviation, the Poles had mainly German-made aircraft; several armored vehicles and one armored train were also captured. Later, all this was used in the battles for the cities of Galicia, in particular for Lviv. Thus, the first flight of the Polish Air Force took place on November 5 over Lvov, the goal was to bomb neighborhoods controlled by Ukrainians.

Click to expand...

By early June 1919, almost the entire Republic was occupied by Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia. On April 21, 1920, Poland and Ukraine approved the border along the Zbruch River.

On May 7, 1920, Polish troops occupied Kyiv, but on June 12 they liberated Kyiv, and in July they began operations in Western Ukraine.

On January 9 (22), 1918, the IV Universal of the Central Rada proclaimed the state independence of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

In April 1918, the UPR was liquidated as a result of a coup d'etat by Hetman P. P. Skoropadsky, supported by German occupation forces. In December 1918, after the troops overthrew the Directory of Hetman Skoropadsky and his Ukrainian state, the UPR was recreated.

On January 22, 1919, the UPR united with the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (WUNR).

The UPR practically ceased to exist during the summer offensive of the Red Army (1920). According to the Treaty of Riga of 1921, Galicia became part of Poland, Bukovina and Bessarabia went to Romania, Transcarpathia came under the influence of Czechoslovakia, the rest of the territory became part of the Ukrainian SSR, until Ukraine gained independence in the 90s, the UPR government was in exile, after Ukraine declared independence , the head of the UPR handed over to the first president of Ukraine (1991-1994) Leonid Kravchuk a letter stating that the Republic of Ukraine, declared independent on August 24, 1991, is the legal successor of the UPR.

December 30, 1922, by signing Union Treaty, The Ukrainian SSR became part of the USSR. In 1938 - 39, autonomous Carpathian Ukraine as part of Czechoslovakia was, as a result of the Munich partition of Czechoslovakia, captured by Hungary. As a result of the protocol on the delimitation of spheres of interest to the Non-Aggression Treaty between Germany and the USSR in 1939, the Ukrainian SSR was annexed Western Ukraine, and in 1940 - Northern Bukovina and the Ukrainian part of Bessarabia.

Wars of the Ukrainian people against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for their independence.

After the Union of Lublin, the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, located south of Polesie, became part of the Kingdom of Poland, which previously included only the Russian land (later Galicia) with its center in Lvov among the East Slavic lands. These lands began to be called Ukraine.

There was a state formation in the area of ​​the Dnieper rapids Zaporozhye Cossacks- Zaporozhye Sich, which in many ways was only nominally part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Polish and Ukrainian peasants, fleeing serfdom, and nobles and townspeople who came into conflict with the law. There they became free people - Cossacks. The same “Cossack republic” was formed on the Don. People from the Moscow state fled there. The Cossacks, both Zaporozhye and Don, lived primarily due to military booty in the wars with Crimean Khanate and Turkey, as well as the salaries that were paid to them, respectively, by Warsaw and Moscow, when the Cossacks acted as allies of the Polish, and the Don Cossacks - of the Russian troops in the wars of these states with each other, as well as against Turkey and the Crimean Khanate.

The Polish government created the so-called registered Cossacks in Ukraine, which became an important force in the wars against Turkey and the Moscow State. In 1490, there were already a thousand such Cossacks. They were located in towns on the Dnieper and were supposed to protect the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from Tatar and Zaporozhye raids. Registered Cossacks were freed from all state duties, owned land and had the right to trade, hunt and fish. At the same time, in Ukraine there were thousands of unregistered Cossacks who inhabited the southern Ukrainian steppes, did not bear feudal duties, did not own land and lived by war, robbery, hunting and fishing. These people were recruited into the Polish army during campaigns, but their status was not regulated

The situation was complicated by interreligious strife. In 1596, the Brest Church Union was concluded, according to which Orthodox Church on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was subordinated to the Pope. However, many Orthodox bishops and the masses of believers in general did not recognize the union and considered themselves independent from catholic church. Ukrainian Cossacks were Orthodox and fought both Catholic Poles and Ukrainian supporters of the union.

In 1590, unregistered Cossacks, led by their hetman Krzysztof Kosinski, who came from the Polish gentry, rebelled. After the death of Kosinsky, he was replaced by Pereyaslavl Colonel Ivan Loboda, and then by Pavel Nalivaiko. Polish troops led by Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky, an Orthodox magnate whose son Janusz, however, was already a Catholic, managed to suppress the uprising in 1596, and in decisive battle in 1594, up to 3 thousand Cossacks died. Two years later, surrounded by Hetman Zholkiewski in the Solonitsa tract near Luben, the Cossacks capitulated, agreeing to hand over the atamans and all military supplies, including 31 cannons. The captured rebellion leaders Nalivaiko, Loboda, Kizim and Mazepa were subjected to painful execution - they were burned alive in a copper bull.

In 1619, under pressure from the Cossacks, the register was increased to 3 thousand people, but more than 10 thousand Cossacks remained outside it, and with them - flammable material for new uprisings. In 1625, after a new uprising under the leadership of Zhmailo, the number of registered Cossacks increased to 6 thousand, but there were now about 40 thousand Cossacks outside the register. Many Cossacks who were not included in the register went to the Sich, where in 1629 there were already 40 thousand Zaporozhye Cossacks.

In 1630, tens of thousands of “new Cossacks” rebelled, led by the fugitive peasant Taras Fedorovich (Taras Treasylo). The rebels marched from the Sich to Ukraine, where registered Cossacks joined them. Near Korsun, the rebels surrounded the Polish army of Hetman Konetspolsky. The latter managed to come to an agreement with the registered Cossacks. At the height of the battle, they switched back to the side of the Poles, captured and executed Taras.

In 1637, a new uprising was led by the Zaporozhye Cossack Pavlyuk. It covered the Kiev region, Poltava region and Chernihiv region. The rebels destroyed the foreman of the registered Cossacks, the Polish and Ukrainian gentry; the 14,000-strong Polish army led by Hetman Pototsky in 1638, with great difficulty, managed to destroy the 10,000-strong army of Pavlyuk. Pototsky recalled: “The peasants were so stubborn and rebellious that none of them asked for peace and forgiveness of guilt. On the contrary, they only shouted that everyone should die in battle with our army, and everyone really died fighting against us. And even those who lacked bullets and weapons beat our soldiers with shafts and poles." After the defeat, the registered Cossacks handed over Pavlyuk and his close Poles. The executed Pavlyuk was replaced by Hetman Ostranitsa, and after the death of Ostranitsa - Colonel Gunya, but the uprising was soon suppressed. Now there are fewer than 6 thousand registered Cossacks, and the election of almost all Cossack elders has been abolished. The registered Cossacks retained the right to elect only two esauls and several centurions. Cossacks could live only in Cherkasy, Korsun and Chigirin elderships.

At the end of 1647, the Chigirin centurion Zinovy ​​Bogdan Khmelnytsky, who came from the small Ukrainian gentry, who experienced a lot of oppression from the Poles (one gentry killed his son, ruined the farm and kidnapped his wife), fled to the lower reaches of the Dnieper, where, having gathered a detachment of fugitive Cossacks, he attacked the Polish the Kodak fortress, which blocked the exit from the Sich, and captured it. After this success, the Zaporozhye Sich elected Khmelnytsky as its hetman. He addressed an appeal to the population of Ukraine: “You will never find the opportunity to overthrow Polish rule, unless you now completely throw off the yoke of Polish officials and gain freedom, the freedom that our fathers bought with their blood... there is no other way than to defeat the enemy by force ..."

Khmelnitsky managed to conclude an alliance with the Crimean Khan. The Polish command underestimated the seriousness of the situation. Crown Hetman Nikolai Pototsky believed that Khmelnytsky had only 2 thousand Cossacks and no more than 500 Tatars from the Perekop Murza Tugai Bey. In reality, Khmelnitsky had up to 8 thousand Cossacks and about the same number of Tatars.

In April 1648, a Polish detachment of 5-6 thousand people, led by the son of Hetman Potocki, Stefan, moved to Zaporozhye. Parallel to him, a detachment of registered Cossacks of Colonel Barabash of 4-6 thousand people, reinforced by several hundred German landsknechts, sailed along the Dnieper in boats. The Cossacks were waiting for the enemy at the Yellow Waters - a tributary of the Ingulets River. On May 3, registered Cossacks killed Barabash, exterminated the German infantry and joined Khmelnitsky.

The Polish detachment set up a fortified camp on the right bank of the Yellow Waters. Khmelnitsky's Cossacks besieged the camp and attacked it several times on May 6, but were unable to take it. During the battle, young Potocki was abandoned by the dragoons, who went over to the enemy’s side. The Poles were forced to enter into negotiations to agree on a withdrawal. Khmelnytsky deliberately delayed the negotiations for a day so that the Tatars had time to cut off the retreat path of Pototsky’s army. The Zaporozhye hetman agreed to let the Poles through on the condition that they surrender their artillery to the Cossacks. The Tatars, who did not formally participate in the negotiations, attacked the Poles during their retreat, and the Cossacks supplied Tugai Bey with captured cannons. The Polish soldiers were partly destroyed, partly captured, and their commander was killed.

After the victory at Zheltye Vody, the Cossack-Tatar army went to Korsun, where the main forces of the crown hetman Potocki and the field hetman Kalinovsky were located. On the way, a detachment of 3 thousand dragoons, mostly consisting of Ukrainians, crossed over to Khmelnitsky’s side. The Polish troops were almost twice as numerous as the enemy and were greatly demoralized by the betrayal of the registered Cossacks and Ukrainian dragoons. Pototsky, contrary to Kalinovsky’s opinion, ordered a retreat. However, the escape route was intercepted by a 6,000-strong detachment of Zaporizhian Colonel Maxim Krivonos. On May 16, the Poles were defeated. Most of the troops led by the hetmans were captured. Only a little over a thousand Polish soldiers reached Kyiv.

After the victory at Korsun, a widespread uprising began in Ukraine. The rebels killed thousands of Polish nobles and townspeople and tens of thousands of Jewish traders, artisans and estate managers. Polish troops were expelled from almost all Ukrainian territories. They managed to hold out only in the Russian Voivodeship (Galicia) and Volyn. Detachments of Ukrainian Cossacks were also sent to the lands of Lithuania, where they united with the Belarusian rebels.

In Poland, a “pospolite ruin” (general militia) was declared. In September 1648, the Polish army, numbering about 40 thousand people, including 18 thousand mercenaries and 100 guns, gathered near Lvov. The battle with Khmelnytsky’s army took place on September 11-13 near the town of Pilyavtsy in the Lviv region. The Poles actually did not have a unified command, which greatly complicated their situation. One of the leaders, Prince Dominik Zaslavsky, advocated negotiations with Khmelnitsky, the other, the Russian governor Prince Jeremiah Vishnevetsky, insisted on suppressing the uprising with fire and sword. On September 11, Polish troops crossed the Pilyavka River, but did not dare or did not have time, due to darkness, to attack the Pilyavtsy castle, where the main forces of the Ukrainians were located.

The next day, the Cossacks captured one of the fords across Pilyavka, and by the evening several thousand Tatars came to their aid. On the morning of September 13, the Tatars attacked the enemy on the right bank of Pilyavka, and the Cossack detachment crossed the dam to the left bank, and then simulated a disorderly retreat. The noble cavalry began to pursue him and on the left bank they came under attack from an ambush detachment of Maxim Krivonos and fled. The Poles crowded on the dam, many fell into the water and drowned. Panic spread to the Polish camp. At night, the Poles retreated, abandoning artillery and convoys.

Soon after the battle of Pilyavtsy, King Władysław died, and the usual chaos for a kingless society ensued in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Although most of the Polish army at Pilyavtsi survived, there was no one to gather forces against Khmelnytsky. The Zaporozhye hetman approached Lvov, who bought off the siege with a large indemnity. Ukrainian troops then unsuccessfully besieged Zamość.

At the end of 1648, Jan Casimir was elected as the new king. Khmelnytsky, fearing the approach of the royal army, lifted the siege of Zamosc and retreated to Ukraine. In January 1649, in Kyiv, he was proclaimed hetman of Ukraine and recognized in this capacity by Jan Casimir, who did not yet have enough troops to suppress the rebellion. However, the Polish-Ukrainian negotiations that had begun ended in failure, as the Poles insisted on restoring Polish estates in Ukraine and paying compensation to the gentry for the devastation, as well as limiting the number of Cossack troops. Khmelnytsky was ready only for a purely nominal subordination of Ukraine to the Polish crown, defending the actual independence of the country

In the spring of 1649, the king declared a new Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The army gathered in Lublin. Vishnevetsky concentrated his 12,000-strong army in the Zbarazh castle, which had 60 guns. Khmelnitsky collected 30 Cossack regiments from Chigirin, numbering up to 30 thousand people. The Tatars, led by Khan Islam-Girey, came to his aid. The Cossack-Tatar army, numbering up to 50 thousand fighters, moved to Zbarazh on March 1. On March 25, a battle took place in front of the castle with Vishnevetsky’s army. Burlyaya's Cossack regiment, together with the Tatars, overthrew the German infantry and broke into the enemy convoy. However, Vishnevetsky threw the Seething Hussar banner against the Cossacks, which pushed them back to the pond and destroyed almost all of them. Morozenko's regiment rushed to help Burlyai, but the Poles repelled this attack, and Colonel Morozenko was killed. By evening, Vishnevetsky’s army retreated to Zbarazh

The siege of the castle lasted two months. The besieged fought off several attacks. Meanwhile, the 30,000-strong army of Jan Casimir was approaching Zbarazh. Having learned about this, Khmelnitsky launched a general assault at the end of July under the cover of the Walking Towns. However, Vishnevetsky’s people made a sortie and burned the towns of Gulyai, forcing the Cossacks to retreat.

Leaving a small blocking detachment at Zbarazh, Khmelnitsky set out with his main forces to meet the Polish king. They met near Zborov on the Strypa River. Taking into account the losses suffered at Zbarazh and the detachment left at the castle, Khmelnitsky had only a slight numerical superiority. On the morning of August 5, the Polish army began to cross the river on two bridges. Khmelnitsky alternately attacked both detachments of the Polish army, which managed to cross to the right bank, and destroyed them. Then the main forces entered the battle. The Cossacks and Tatars managed to overthrow the enemy’s left wing, where the noble cavalry from the Polish lands proper stood. The king sent the Reitar cavalry to her aid. At the same time, the right wing, consisting of the Polish gentry of the Bratslav and Podolsk voivodeships, launched a counterattack. As a result, the offensive of the Ukrainian army was stopped. The Poles were able to hide in the convoy and surround it with trenches.

On the morning of August 6, the Cossacks attacked the Polish camp from the front, and the Tatars from the rear. At the same time, several hundred Cossacks broke into Zboriv, ​​which was occupied by a weak Polish garrison. However, the night before, Jan Casimir sent a letter to the Crimean Khan, offering him any concessions in exchange for the Tatars stopping hostilities. In the midst of the assault on the Polish camp, the khan demanded that Khmelnitsky stop the offensive and negotiate.

On August 22, the Zboriv Peace Treaty was concluded between Ukraine and Poland. The number of registered Cossacks under this agreement increased to 40 thousand (that’s how many of them were actually in Khmelnitsky’s army). The king undertook to pay them a salary and supply them with weapons. The main voivodships of Ukraine, Kiev, Bratslav and Chernigov, were supposed to have Orthodox voivodes, and the hetman's power extended to them. Polish troops should not have remained in Ukraine. An exchange of prisoners took place, as a result of which hetmans Pototsky and Kalinovsky returned to Poland.

The Sejm in Warsaw did not approve the Zboriv Treaty, considering the concessions made to Khmelnytsky excessive, and the war resumed. In 1650, Khmelnitsky, together with the Tatars, made a campaign in the Principality of Moldova and for some time subjugated it to his influence. 4 thousand Cossacks invaded Lithuania and, with the help of local rebels, pinned down a significant part of the Lithuanian troops.

The Poles have not yet conducted active military operations in Ukraine, gathering strength. In November 1650, the Sejm decided to increase the number of the Polish crown army to 36 thousand people, and the Lithuanian army to 18 thousand. The actual size of the Polish-Lithuanian army was even greater, since many magnates (Vishnewiecki, Lubomirski, Radziwill, etc.) had private armies of several thousand people.

In February 1651, a Polish detachment invaded Podolia and defeated the Cossack regiment of Danila Nechay (Nechay himself died). In response, Khmelnytsky with his main forces and together with his Tatar allies invaded Volyn. He issued a universal (manifesto) to the Polish peasants, calling on them to rebel against the gentry. The hetman hoped to crush the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and place his protege on the throne in Warsaw. Jan Casimir marched against Khmelnytsky with an army of 50,000. The Ukrainian-Tatar army numbered about. 70 thousand people. In June 1651, both armies converged near Berestechko

The battle began on June 18. Vishnevetsky's detachment overthrew the Tatar cavalry. At the same time, Khmelnitsky’s longtime comrade-in-arms, Perekop Murza Tugai Bey, was killed. The entire Tatar army fled from the battlefield in disarray. Khmelnitsky rushed to the khan, trying to stop the flight, but Islam-Girey took the hetman with him, essentially turning him into a hostage. The Cossack army was surrounded. Many Cossacks drowned during the retreat through the swamp, some were captured, and some died. As one of the Poles participating in the battle noted, the enemy did not ask for mercy. Only a minority of the Ukrainian army, led by Colonel Bohun, managed to escape. The entire convoy and artillery went to the winners

A few days later, Khmelnytsky was able to pay off the khan, but the hetman no longer had troops. Ukraine found itself defenseless against an enemy invasion. The 20,000-strong army of the Lithuanian hetman Radziwill defeated the Cossack regiment of Martyn Nebaba (the colonel died in battle) in the Chernihiv region and occupied Kyiv on July 20. The city was set on fire and almost completely burned out. The Lithuanian army, experiencing a lack of food and suffering from a plague epidemic, was forced to leave Kyiv to Pavolocha.

Immediately after the victory at Berestechko, Jan Casimir returned to Warsaw with the Polish crown army. The army of magnates continued their march to Ukraine. At the Bila Tserkva they were met by Khmelnitsky with the remnants of his army. The Cossacks were not able to withstand a new battle, but the Poles did not have the strength to effectively occupy all of Ukraine. As a result, on September 1, 1651, the Belotserkov Peace Treaty was signed. Now the number of registered Cossacks was reduced to 20 thousand, and only the Kiev Voivodeship remained in the power of the Ukrainian hetman. Khmelnytsky himself had to, in turn, submit to the Polish crown hetman.

After the defeat at Berestechko, Khmelnytsky was forced to part with the idea of ​​state independence of Ukraine. He could no longer threaten Warsaw on his own and set a course for Ukraine to join the Russian state. With the help of Moscow, which provided money, gunpowder, lead and weapons, it was possible to form a new Cossack army. At its head, the hetman invaded Moldavia in the spring of 1652. Near the Southern Bug, on the Batogsky field, his path was blocked by a 20,000-strong Polish army led by the full hetman Kalinovsky. Half of this army were German mercenaries. Khmelnitsky had 20 thousand Cossacks and 18 thousand Tatars. A 5,000-strong detachment of Cossacks led by the hetman’s son Timofey Khmelnitsky, son-in-law of the Moldavian ruler Vasily Lupu, crossed the Bug above Ladyzhin and went to Moldova.

Kalinovsky decided that he was dealing only with a small enemy army, and hoped to easily destroy it. On June 1, the Ukrainian hetman sent an avant-garde consisting of Cossacks and Tatars against the Polish camp. The Poles easily drove him away with cannon shots, and Kalinovsky, confident that he was dealing with the same small detachment of Cossacks, ordered his cavalry to pursue the enemy. But at this time the Cossack army bypassed the Polish camp from the rear. Kalinovsky was forced to order the cavalry to return. A detachment of Polish cavalry, sent towards Ladyzhin, was almost completely destroyed by the Cossacks of Timofey Khmelnitsky.

The Poles found themselves surrounded in a fortified camp. The Polish cavalry arbitrarily tried to break through and leave. Kalinowski ordered the artillery and landsknechts to open fire on their own cavalry. In response, the gentry attacked the German infantry. During the battle, a fire broke out in the camp, and the Tatars and Cossacks, taking advantage of the civil strife, launched an assault. Part of the Polish cavalry managed to escape from the encirclement, but most of the nobles, led by Kalinovsky, died. Eight German regiments repelled the first attack with musket fire, but after the second attack, having exhausted the supply of gunpowder, they were almost completely destroyed

The significance of the Batog victory for the Cossacks was only moral, but not strategic. The following year, 1653, a large Polish army invaded Moldavia. Lord Vasily Lupu was deposed, the Cossack detachment in the country was defeated, and Timofey Khmelnitsky died during the siege of the Moldavian fortress of Suceava by Polish troops. Polish Army Hetman Stefan Charnetsky devastated the Ukrainian lands.

In October 1653, Jan Casimir with a large army came to Podolia and set up camp near Zhvanets. The Cossack-Tatar army surrounded the camp. The Poles suffered severely from a lack of food and warm clothing, and desertion increased among them. It seemed to Khmelnitsky that he would soon be able to force the king to capitulate. However, the Crimean Khan, who, according to by and large, the endless continuation of the Ukrainian-Polish confrontation was beneficial, and not the victory of Poland or Ukraine, he suddenly withdrew his army from Zhvanets.

Probably, Islam-Girey was also aware of Khmelnitsky’s intention to surrender under the patronage of the Moscow Tsar As early as October 1, the Zemsky Sobor in Moscow decided to accept Ukraine into Russian citizenship. The Cossacks alone, without the Tatars, did not have enough strength to defeat the army. In December, a compromise peace treaty was concluded in Zhvanets, repeating the terms of the Zboriv Peace Treaty. However, this agreement had no significance, since Khmelnytsky on January 8, 1654, at the Rada in Pereyaslavl, proclaimed the transition of Ukraine to the rule of the Moscow Tsar. The assembled Cossack elders approved this decision. According to the act ("articles") signed in Pereyaslavl, the power of the hetman, subordinate to the tsar, was preserved in Ukraine. Russian troops were introduced into Ukraine, but civil power remained in the hands of the Cossack foreman and hetman. But this situation lasted only until the death of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, which followed in 1657. Then the Russian garrisons in Ukraine increasingly increased, and the hetman's power was limited.