Sukhovii, Petro

Sukhovii, Petro [Suxovij] (Sukhoviienko), b 1645 in Poltava, d ? Cossack leader. He served in Poltava regiment and then became chancellor of the Zaporozhian Sich. In November 1668, at the height of Hetman Petro Doroshenko's power, he proclaimed himself hetman of Right-Bank Ukraine with the support of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. To win the support of the Crimean Tatars he accepted the suzerainty of the Crimean khan. Sukhovii's intrigues and a Polish offensive in Right-Bank Ukraine forced Doroshenko to abandon Left-Bank Ukraine. At the end of 1668 Sukhovii and the Tatars attacked Doroshenko's domain in Right-Bank Ukraine but were defeated at Olkhivets by Doroshenko's troops and Ivan Sirko's Zaporozhian Cossacks. In the summer of 1669 Sukhovii, with Tatar reinforcements, attacked Doroshenko again, but Turkey ordered the Crimean khan to withdraw his support of Sukhovii. In June 1669 Sukhovii was deposed, and in July Mykhailo Khanenko, who was supported by Poland, was proclaimed hetman. After Doroshenko's victory over Khanenko at Stebliv on 29 October 1669, Sukhovii escaped to the Crimea.

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