Historians Discover First Dossier of Ukrainian Hetman Orlyk
Ukrainian historians have found unique and previously unknown historical documents: the first dossier of Ukrainian Hetman Pylyp Orlyk, his letters, letters of his family, and letters from Swedish kings.
The Gaze reports on this with reference to a post on Facebook by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
A previously unknown letter from Pylyp Orlyk to Sultan Mahmud I calling for Ukraine's liberation from Russia and its declaration as an independent state has been found. The oldest and previously unknown Cossack document in Ukrainian, dated 1582, is a fundamentally important acquisition.
All these unique finds are the result of many months of work by Ukrainian historians - Oleksandr Sereda, Oleh Odnorozhenko, Maria Trattner, Natalia Drobiazko and Maryna Harmak - as part of the MFA project "Residence of Pylyp Orlyk. Discovering the History of Ukraine in the World's Archives".
"By exploring previously unknown pages of our glorious history, the scientists of the Orlyk Residence are restoring the true role of our state in fateful historical processes. Ukrainians, the world, and our international partners need to hear and know about this in order to understand the true contribution of our country to the common European history. After all, Ukraine was a decisive factor in many victories in the defence of Europe," said Sybiha.
Ukrainian scholars have processed 2,500 archival files from Lithuanian historical archives and libraries, 600 archival pages in six languages from the Swedish State Archives, and more than 2,200 documents from the archives of Turkey and Bulgaria.
Sybiha added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will finance and help publish the unique achievements of scientists for proper presentation to international partners, the public and academic circles of other countries.
Read more: Five Ukrainians Who Altered the Course of History