Iskra, Ivan

Iskra, Ivan, b ? d 26 July 1708 in Borshchahivka (now in Vinnytsia oblast). Colonel of Poltava regiment from 1696 to 1703; the grandson of Yakiv Ostrianyn. Iskra took part in the Russian campaign of 1696 against the Turkish fortresses on the lower Dnipro River, as acting hetman of the Cossack regiments. In 1700 he led a large Cossack force against the Swedes in Livonia during the Northern War. He opposed Hetman Ivan Mazepa's separatist plans, and in 1703 Mazepa deposed him. In August 1707 Iskra and the general judge Vasyl Kochubei denounced Mazepa to Tsar Peter I. Trusting Mazepa and finding no evidence to prove their accusations, Peter had Iskra and Kochubei arrested, returned to Ukraine, and beheaded. They are buried at the Kyivan Cave Monastery.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).]