Varenytsia Uprising

Varenytsia Uprising [Варениці повстання; Varenttsi povstannia]. A revolt by peasants and Cossacks in Right-Bank Ukraine in 1664–5. The uprising took place several years after the Right Bank had been returned to the Polish overlords under the Treaty of Slobodyshche. It was preceded by a revolt in Pavoloch regiment led by Ivan Popovych in 1663. The 1664–5 uprising broke out in the Dnipro River region and quickly spread throughout the Right Bank. Its leaders were Vasyl Varenytsia, the colonel of Kalnyk regiment, and a Cossack named Ivan Sulymka. The rebels were soon joined by Zaporozhian Cossacks under Ivan Sirko. After the Poles crushed the rebellion they meted out harsh punishments to its perpetrators and supporters. Sulymka was executed; Varenytsia died in battle near Kalnyk in 1665.

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