Red Cossacks

Red Cossacks (Chervone kozatstvo Ukrainy). A Bolshevik military formation that was active in Ukraine in 1918–20 and is considered to be the first regular Soviet Ukrainian fighting unit. The first regiment of the Red Cossacks was formed on 10 January 1918 as the Bolshevik counterpart of the Free Cossacks of the Ukrainian National Republic. Its commander was V. Prymakov. The Red Cossacks fought on the Soviet side in the Ukrainian-Soviet War, 1917–21. Besides the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic, they fought the Central Powers, the Don Cossacks, Nykyfor Hryhoriv's partisans (see Partisan movement in Ukraine, 1918–22), and Anton Denikin's and Petr Wrangel's armies.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]