Hordiienko, Kost

Hordiienko, Kost [Hordijenko, Kost’], b ? in the Poltava region, d 4 May 1733 at the Kamianka Sich (near present-day Respublikanets, Beryslav raion, Kherson oblast). Otaman of the Zaporozhian Sich from 1702 to 1713. He was educated at the Kyivan Mohyla College and then joined the Zaporozhian Cossacks. An enemy of Muscovy, he opposed Hetman Ivan Mazepa's acceptance of Russian domination. In March 1709 he arrived with 8,000 Zaporozhian Cossacks at the headquarters of the Swedish army and, with Mazepa's mediation, signed a treaty with Charles XII on 8 April at Velyki Budyshcha. After the Battle of Poltava he enabled Charles's and Mazepa's forces to cross the Dnipro River near Perevolochna and to escape to Bendery. After Mazepa's death, Hordiienko supported Pylyp Orlyk and in 1711 took part in Orlyk's unsuccessful campaign against Right-Bank Ukraine. After reaching an agreement with Turkey in 1712, he left Orlyk and until 1728 commanded the Oleshky Sich under the protectorate of the Crimean khan.

[This article was updated in 2008.]