Zhurakovsky, Vasyl

Zhurakovsky, Vasyl [Жураковський, Василь; Žurakovs'kyj, Vasyl'], b ? in Nizhyn, d 1730. Cossack leader of the Zhurakovsky Cossack starshyna family. He was general osaul (1710–24) under Hetman Ivan Skoropadsky and a close associate of Pavlo Polubotok. After Polubotok’s departure for Saint Petersburg in 1723, Zhurakovsky and the general standard-bearer Yakiv Yu. Lyzohub governed the Hetman state. He relayed the Kolomak Petitions to Polubotok in Saint Petersburg, with the consequence that Polubotok was taken into custody in 1723. The Russian investigator A. Rumiantsev charged Zhurakovsky with conspiracy to promote the autonomy of Ukraine, and Zhurakovsky was imprisoned in Saint Petersburg (1724–5), after which period he lived in exile in Moscow. Through the intercession of Danylo Apostol he was allowed to return to Ukraine in 1728.

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