Kyiv regiment

Kyiv regiment. Administrative-territorial and military unit in central Ukraine, created in 1648 (see Regimental system). At first its territory was mostly in Left-Bank Ukraine. In 1649 the regiment consisted of 17 companies (with 1,790 registered Cossacks), 4 of which were centered in the capital city of Kyiv; the others were Bilohorodka, Vorsivka, Hostomel, Vasylkiv, Brovary, Makariv, Motovylivka, Obukhiv, Khodosivka, Trypillia, Ovruch, Perevarka, and Yasnohorodka. The first colonels were Mykhailo Krychevsky (1649) and Antin Zhdanovych (1649–53). By 1654 it had acquired additional territory on the left bank and comprised 22 companies. When the right-bank territories were given to Poland under the terms of the Treaty of Andrusovo (1667), parts of Pereiaslav regiment and Nizhyn regiment were attached to the remaining left-bank territories. From 1687 to 1744 the regiment consisted of 8 companies: Kyiv, Oster, Hoholiv, Kozelets, Bobrovytsia, Nosivka, Kobyzhcha, and Morozovsk. From the beginning of the 18th century its capital was Kozelets. In 1721 it had 6,910 male inhabitants, including 2,626 Cossacks. By 1764 it contained 3 cities, 14 towns, and 448 villages and homesteads with a male population of 79,000, including 23,800 Cossacks. Kyiv regiment took part in the Russo-Turkish wars of the 18th century. When it was abolished in 1781, its territory was incorporated into Kyiv vicegerency and its Cossacks were reorganized into a carabineer regiment. Among the colonels who enjoyed longer tenures in the regiment were V. Dvoretsky (1659–60, 1663–8), Kostiantyn Solonyna (1669–82, 1687–90), Kostiantyn Mokiievsky (1691–1708), Antin Tansky (1712–31), M. Tansky (1734–47), E. Daragan (1751–62), and L. Lukashevych (1779–83). Oleksander Bezborodko, who later became a chancellor of the Russian Empire and a prince, was colonel in 1774–5.

Borys Balan, Arkadii Zhukovsky

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