Polubotok Regiment

Polubotok Regiment (Полк ім. гетьмана П. Полуботка; Polk im. hetmana P. Polubotka). A Ukrainian military unit which sprang up spontaneously in June 1917 at the Russian army distribution depot in Kyiv. Its elected commander was Lt Romanenko. The Central Rada attempted unsuccessfully to send the regiment out of Kyiv to the front. During the night of 17–18 July 1917 the regiment, on its own initiative and without informing the Central Rada or the Ukrainian Military Club, tried to take control of Kyiv by driving out representatives of the Russian Provisional Government. The action was not supported by the Central Rada, which allowed Russian troops in Kyiv to disarm the regiment and send it on 27 July to the combat zone. Some of its soldiers were arrested and imprisoned for several months. The episode remains controversial and unclear.

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