Key little-known cities in Ukraine

August 20, 2024
Small cities boast a historical diversity of settlements that influenced Ukrainian traditions. So let's take a look.
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Chyhyryn as the Cossack Capital

Chyhyryn was first mentioned in the 16th century as a town of sotnyas (both a military unit and the administrative-territorial unit based on it). On October 15, 1592, King Sigismund III Vasa granted Chyhyryn Magdeburg rights, a coat of arms, and a town hall building.

The Cossack state was ruled by the most famous hetmans (political titles given to military commanders), including Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Ivan Vyhovsky, Pavlo Teteria, and others. The Treasury, Mint, and Cossack Congresses and councils were all held there.

During the Ukrainian National Revolution of 1648–1676, Chyhyryn became the epicentre of the Ukrainian struggle for statehood. In 1648, the Chyhyryn Regiment expanded beyond its military role to include administrative and territorial units. The Chyhyryn Sotnya included the village of Subotiv, which has been associated with many history-changing events.

It was the ancestral estate of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, inherited from his father. Like Chyhyryn, Subotiv became the centre of Hetman's power and diplomacy. From here, Bohdan Khmelnytsky issued his universal letters and managed military affairs.

Baturyn, the Tragedy of 1709

In 1625, the Poles besieged the city on the "Baturyn settlement" and built the Baturyn fortress, which produced unfortified suburbs. The town expanded rapidly and became a craft and trade centre, with trade playing an important role in the economy. In 1643, Baturyn was granted the privilege of exempting local merchants from customs duties for 20 years.

During the National Revolution of 1648–1676 (in the early summer of 1648), the Zaporozhian Army took control of Baturyn. But during the Great Northern War, Hetman Ivan Mazepa decided to seize the opportunity to get rid of Muscovy's influence. He reached an agreement with Sweden's King Charles XII on joint actions against Peter I.

When the Russian tsar learned of this, he ordered Alexander Menshikov, the commander of Russian troops, to capture Baturyn and punish all Mazepa supporters. In the last quarter of the seventeenth century, Baturyn emerged as a significant cultural centre.

The Baturyn Mykola-Krupytskyi Monastery, built by Cossack officers and hetmans, served as a cultural and spiritual centre. However, Moscow committed the Baturyn massacre, which was a crime against humanity.

As French newspapers reported on the Baturyn tragedy in 1708,

"The whole of Ukraine is bathed in blood. Menshikov shows the horrors of Moscow barbarism".

Moscow troops slaughtered approximately 14,000 residents, looted and burned Hetman Mazepa's capital in order to break free from the Moscow tsar's rule.

Bratslav as a Jewish Centre

Bratslav has its own powerful history: it was the centre of the Bratslav Voivodeship (Polish administrative unit); an important historical site is Castle Hill, where the fortress was located, which was once the centre of social life and a symbol of the struggle for Eastern Podillia.

Today, Jewish pilgrims come here because Bratslav is the birthplace of "Bratslav Hasidism" in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Bratslav is referred to as Ukraine's second Jewish capital because Tzadik Nachman preached here for the majority of his life and Hasidim from all over the world visit his grave.

Bratslav also had a strong revolutionary movement at the turn of the century. In January 1904, leaflets with the titles "To all Russian citizens", "To all Russian workers", and "The last trump card of the autocracy" were found on the streets of the city, condemning the existing system.

Berdychiv, Haisyn, Sharhorod, Tulchyn, and Nemyriv are Ukrainian Shtetls

A shtetl is a private town that serves as the foundation for a Jewish settlement that is both rural and urban. In contrast to the magnates of Central and Western Europe, who owned villages, the magnates of the Polish-Lithuanian crown owned cities.

The magnates encouraged Jews to relocate from the expulsion cities to Berdychiv, Haisyn, Sharhorod, Tulchyn, and Nemyriv. When the Russian Empire seized Polish territory, the Pale of Settlement was established.

Until the end of Poland's partitions in 1795, Catherine II designated separate territories for Jews to live in, as the Russian Empire treated minorities with contempt. The "Jewish Pale of Settlement"—the empire's 15 new provinces—allowed the Jewish population to live within the borders of Poland. The shtetl was a phenomenon that did not exist during the Russian Empire.

Because a Russian provincial town was not a town in and of itself but rather belonged to the state, it had almost no Jewish population until the 1860s, and it did not have the same economic impact as an original shtetl.

Kramatorsk as a Cossack Fortress

In the late 18th century, Ukrainian Cossacks led by Otaman Stepan Taranov (the commander in chief of all Ukrainian armed forces) settled the territory of modern Kramatorsk.

The settlement was founded by former officers of Cossack regiments, specifically the Izium Sloboda Cossack Regiment and the Bakhmut Cavalry Cossack Regiment, which were stationed and lived in Tor (now Sloviansk).

The year 1868 holds importance in the city's history since it witnessed the construction of the region's first railway, which connected the centre of the Russian Empire to the coast of the Azov Sea. This road provided merchants with access to ports and simplified the sale of agricultural products.

Swiss industrialist Konrad Hamper created a full-cycle business that included iron smelting, steel production, and the production of finished mechanical products. The emergence of industry and infrastructure, such as theatres, cinemas, postal and telegraph offices, hospitals, and so on, set the standard for Kramatorsk's development for many years.

Small Ukrainian towns such as Chyhyryn and Baturyn served as important centres of the Cossacks' military and political power. Bratslav became a significant Jewish spiritual centre, known for Bratslav Hasidism, while Berdychiv and Tulchyn were key shtetls that developed into vibrant Jewish settlements prior to the Russian Empire's Pale of Settlement. These towns not only shaped regional history but also the broader cultural and political landscape of Ukraine.

Daria Synhaievska
Analyst and journalist at UkraineWorld