Zhmailo, Marko

Zhmailo, Marko [Жмайло, Марко; Žmajlo], b ? in Kulchytsi, Boiko region, d ? Cossack leader. On 5 November 1625 he headed a rebel army against Polish troops under the command of Stanisław Koniecpolski which had been sent to enforce Polish authority in Ukraine. The insurgent group was composed largely of nonregistered Zaporozhian Cossacks who were veterans of the Battle of Khotyn (1621). Although the uprising failed to destroy the Polish force, it resulted in the adoption of the Treaty of Kurukove as a compromise with the Cossack starshyna. Zhmailo’s subsequent fate is unknown.

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