Vorskla River
Okhtyrka was first established by former Ruthenians of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who were escaping Polonization moving from the Right-bank Ukraine to Sloboda Ukraine. Next to the new settlement Polish authorities established a border outpost against the Muscovite Belgorod Border Line. The settlement and the outpost (fortress) were founded on a right bank of Vorskla River at the site of an ancient Ruthenian settlement on Ak-tyr Hill (from Turkic – "white rock") in 1641 by Ukrainian Cossacks who were led by Polish government official Kulczewski. It was named as Akhtyrsk.