Zabila, Petro

Zabila, Petro [Забіла, Петро], b 1580 in Borzna, Chernihiv region, d 1689. Cossack leader of the Zabila family. An administrator of Polish crownlands, he switched loyalties in 1648 and joined Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s forces. He was made colonel of Borzna regiment (1649, 1654–5) and captain of Borzna company (1652–61), which position his descendants inherited and held until the abolition of the Hetman state. In 1654 and 1655 he traveled to Moscow as the emissary of Ivan Zolotarenko, the acting hetman of Ukrainian Cossacks in Belarus. He supported Ivan Vyhovsky and served as general judge (1663–9) under Ivan Briukhovetsky, whom he represented in Moscow (1665). Under Demian Mnohohrishny he was general quartermaster (1669–87) and also served as Mnohohrishny’s representative in Moscow. In 1672 Zabila participated in a plot against Mnohohrishny, aiming to seize power himself. His plan failed, and Ivan Samoilovych became hetman.

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