Sumy regiment

Sumy regiment. An administrative territory and military formation in Slobidska Ukraine (see Regimental system), settled by peasants and Cossacks from Right-Bank Ukraine. It was formed by the Russian authorities in 1658 to protect Russia's southern flank from attacks by Crimean Tatars and Nogay Tatars. By 1732 the regiment had a population of 86,000, including 3,700 elect Cossacks and 13,900 Cossack helpers, and was divided into 20 companies. The regiment took part in the Chyhyryn campaigns, 1677–8, Crimea campaigns (1687, 1689), and Azov campaigns (1695–6) against the Tatars, the Northern War, and the Seven Years' War. It was abolished in 1765, and its territory was incorporated into Slobidska Ukraine gubernia.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]