Hetmans of Ukrainian Cossacks Hetman of Ukrainian Cossacks as a title was not officially recognized internationally until the creation of the Ukrainian Hetmanate . With the creation of Registered Cossacks units their leaders were unofficially referred to as hetmans , however officially the title was known as the " Senior ( Starshy ) of His Royal Mercy of Zaporishian Host " . Therefore before 1648 and the establishment of Cossack Hetmanate there were numerous regional hetmans across the Dnieper Ukraine , who usually were starostas or voivodes . The first widely recognized hetman of Zaporizhia was Dmytro Vyshnevetsky , however later several Polish starosta s were added to the Hetman registry such as Lyantskoronsky and Dashkevych who also led their own cossack formations . According to Hrushevsky they were not really considered as hetman , at least by their contemporaries . Among other such starostas were Karpo Maslo from Cherkasy , Yatsko Bilous ( Pereyaslav ) , Andrushko ( Bratslav ) , and many others . Even Princes Konstanty Ostrogski and were conducting Cossack raids on Tatar uluses ( districts ) . The commanders of Zaporozhian Host ( the Kosh ) often considered as hetmans in fact carried a title of Kosh Otaman . As from 1572 hetman was unofficially name commanders of the Registered Cossack Army ( ) of the Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth . From the 1648 Bohdan Khmelnytsky uprising , Hetman was the title of the head of the Cossack state , the Cossack Hetmanate . Cossack hetmans had very broad powers and acted as supreme military commanders and executive leader ( by issuing administrative decrees ) . After the split of the territory of Ukraine along the Dnieper River by the Polish - Russia n Treaty of Andrusovo 1667 , there was an introduction of dual leadership for each bank of Dnieper Ukraine ( left and right ) . Eventually the state powers of Cossack Hetmans were gradually diminished in 18th century , and finally abolished by Catherine II of Russia in 1764 . Cossack leaders . Hetmans of Cossack Hetmanate . In 1657 Ivan Vyhovsky being a regent to young Yuriy Khmelnytsky was officially elected as the Hetman for the next three years . He surrendered the title in 1659 due to a public pressure . In 1669 Petro Doroshenko received a title of Sanjak - bey from Mehmed IV . The Appointed Hetman Mykhailo Khanenko was elected the Hetman of Ukraine by a council of Sukhoviy ' s Cossacks in Uman to depose Doroshenko . In 1675 John III Sobieski awarded the title to some Ostap Hohol ( died in 1679 ) . Same thing happened in 1683 when John III Sobieski awarded the title to Stefan Kunicki and in 1684 to Andriy Mohyla . Those awards were given during the Great Turkish War . Moscow ' s appointed hetmans . In support of the Poltava regiment uprising ( Barabash - Pushkar Mutiny ) , Grigory Romadanovsky awarded the title of Appointed Hetman to Ivan Bezpaly . In 1663 in the city of Nizhyn a big cossack council was set up to elect the new Hetman of Ukraine , after which the winner of the elections Ivan Briukhovetsky slain his main rival Yakym Somko . Vouched by Charles Marie François Olier , marquis de Nointel , Yuriy Khmelnytsky was freed from the Ottoman captivity , appointed and along with Pasha Ibragim was sent to Ukraine fight the Moscow forces of Samoilovych and Romadanovsky . In 1681 Mehmed IV appointed George Ducas the Hetman of Ukraine , replacing Khmelnytsky . Following the anathema on Mazepa and the election of Ivan Skoropadsky , Cossack Hetmanate was included into the Russian Government of Kiev in December 1708 . Upon the death of Skoropadsky , the Hetman elections were disrupted and were awarded as a gift and a type of princely titles , first to Moldavian nobleman and later to the Russian Empress favorite . On 5 April 1710 the council of cossacks , veterans of the battle at Poltava , elected Pylyp Orlyk as the Hetman of Ukraine in exile . Orlyk waged a guerrilla warfare at the southern borders of the Russian Empire with the support from Ottoman and Swedish empires .