Hunia, Dmytro

Hunia, Dmytro [Гуня, Дмитро; Hunja], b and d ? A leader of the Cossack peasant uprisings against the Polish nobility. In 1637 he took part in Pavlo Pavliuk’s rebellion. After its defeat at the Battle of Kumeiky and at Borovytsia near Chyhyryn, he and other rebels retreated to the Zaporozhian Sich, where the Cossacks elected Hunia hetman. At the beginning of 1638 his forces routed the Polish expedition of registered Cossacks sent to subdue the Sich. In the spring of 1638 Hunia joined the uprising led by Karpo Skydan and Yakiv Ostrianyn. After its defeat at Zhovnyn, Ostrianyn’s forces retreated to Slobidska Ukraine. The remaining Cossacks continued the fight under Hunia. In the spring of 1640 Hunia led a campaign of Zaporozhian Cossacks and Don Cossacks against Turkey. His subsequent fate is unknown.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]