Ulychians

Ulychians (ulychi, uhlychi, uluchi). An East Slavic tribe that lived in the 6th to 9th centuries in the Dnipro River lowlands from the Ros River to the Black Sea, south of the Polianians. They were on friendly terms with the Tivertsians but warred with the Polianians and Kyivan Rus’. In 885 Prince Oleh led a campaign against them. In the 10th century the Ulychians were pushed westward by the Pechenegs, and they settled in Bessarabia on the Boh River and the Dnister River, where they extended as far as the Danube River and the Black Sea coast. Their capital was Peresichen. In the mid-10th century, during the rule of Prince Ihor, the Ulychians were conquered by the voivode Svineld and absorbed by the Kyivan Rus’ state, along with the Tivertsians. With other tribes they eventually became the original Ukrainians. The Ulychians are not mentioned in chronicles after 940. Some scholars believe that, under pressure from the Cumans, they moved northward in the 12th century and settled near the Sluch River and the upper Boh River (see Bolokhovians).

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