List Of Ukrainian Rulers

This is a list that encompasses and includes all reigning leaders/rulers in the history of Ukraine.

This page includes the titles of the Grand Prince of Kyiv, Grand Prince of Chernigov, Grand Prince of Pereyaslavl, Grand Prince of Galicia–Volhynia, Hetman of Ukraine and President of Ukraine. The following list begins with the leaders who ruled over the territory of Ukraine during Antiquity and is followed by the princes who ruled the principalities that constituted Kyivan Rus and continues with the presidents of Ukraine.

The territory has been known by a plethora of names, it has been known historically as: Kyivan Rus, Rus', the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia, the Zaporozhian Host and the Hetmanate. The sovereigns of these fluctuating political entities have accordingly been described in a variety of ways: knyaz, knyahinya, korol, hetman and president. Two of the earliest noble titles: ''knyaz'' and ''velyky knyaz'' translate into English as "Prince" and "Grand Prince" respectively, whilst ''korol'' translates into 'king'.

Kyivan Rus' (c. 375/800 – 1240/1362)

Legendary and historical rulers of Kyiv

Rurik Dynasty

The Rurikids were descendants of Rurik (Ukrainian: Рюрик) (''Hrørekr''), a Varangian pagan konung or chieftain, who according to the Primary Chronicle was invited to rule Novgorod in 862 and who came to become the ruler of the Northern Slavic tribes of the (Krivchians and Slovene) as well as the Finnish tribes (Meria, Chud and Ves). Later his son or grandson, Prince Ihor, became the Prince of separate Kyivan territories to the south beginning the rule of the Riurykide dynasty of Kyivan Rus. The existence of Rurik is a point of contention for historians, P. Kovaletsky and Omeljan Pritsak believe that Rurik was the same person as Hroereckr (Rorik), the 9th century Norse king of Jutland and Frisia and that pervasive myths and legends about him formed the basis for the primary chroniclers. Alternatively, Alexsei Shakmatov accepts the Primary Chronicle's account as factual and Rurik is a historic being.

Table of rulers

(Note: Here the numbering of the princes is the same for all principalities, as all were titled Princes of Rus', despite of the different parts of land and its particular numbering of the rulers. The princes are numbered by the year of their (first) succession.)

Kings and Princes of Galicia-Volhynia (1199–1349)

Galicia-Volhynia was a Ruthenian state in Galicia and Volhynia. Depending on the title of the ruler it was called either principality or kingdom. The first king, Coloman of Galicia-Lodomeria, was crowned in 1215, although the first nominal king of Galicia was Andrew II of Hungary, the son of Béla III of Hungary, who reigned from 1188 to 1190.

In 1349, Liubartas lost all territories, except for eastern Volhynia, to Casimir III of Poland. In 1366, a Polish-Lithuanian treaty was signed: eastern Volhynia with Lutsk retained under Liubartas' rule (the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), while Galicia, western Volhynia, and western Podolia were annexed by the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.

In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1362–1569) and Kingdom of Poland (1569–1667/1793)

Princes of Kiev

In the early 1320s, a Lithuanian army led by Gediminas defeated a Slavic army led by Stanislav of Kiev at the Battle on the Irpen' River, and conquered the city. The Tatars, who also claimed Kiev, retaliated in 1324–1325, so while Kiev was ruled by a Lithuanian prince, it had to pay a tribute to the Golden Horde. Finally, as a result of the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, Kiev and surrounding areas were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania.

* Algimantas Alšėniškis (Olgimunt Holszański, Olgimont-Mykhailo Olshansky) (1324–1331)
* Fiodor of Kiev a.k.a. Teodoras Butvydaitis, brother of Gediminas (1331–1362)
* Vladimiras Algirdaitis (Volodymyr Olgerdovych) (1362–1394)
*Skirgaila (1395–1397)
* Ivan Olshansky (Jonas Alšėniškis) (1397–c. 1402)
* Jurgis Gedgaudas; lt (Jerzy Giedygołd) (1404–1411)
* Andriy Ivanovych Olshansky (c. 1412–c. 1422)
* Mykhailo Ivanovych Olshansky (1422–1432)
* Mykhailo Semenovych Boloban Olshansky (1433–1435)
*Švitrigaila (1435–c. 1440), Grand Duke of the Rus' (1432–c. 1440)
* Aleksandras Olelka (Olelko Volodymyrovych) (1443–1454)
* Simonas Olelkaitis (Semen Olelkovych) (1454–1471)

Voivodes of Kiev

When the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed by the Union of Lublin in 1569, Kiev and surrounding areas, Podolia, Volhynia, and Podlaskie, as the Kiev Voivodeship, Bratslav Voivodeship, Volhynian Voivodeship, and Podlaskie Voivodeship, were transferred from Lithuania to Poland.

Hetmans of Ukrainian Cossacks (1506–1775)

A Hetman was a military and civil leader, democratically elected by the Cossacks.

Hetmans and commanders of Ukrainian Cossacks

Several Cossack regiments were operating in Ukraine at this time that were largely independent of each other, so some of the Hetmans' tenures overlap.

Hetmans of the Cossack state

Following the Khmelnytsky uprising a new Cossack republic, the Hetmanate, was formed.

Hetmans during the Ruin

The Ruin (1660–1687) was a time in Ukrainian history when the country fell into disarray and chaos. Afterwards, the Cossack state emerged as a vassal of the Russian Empire. During this period a number of hetmans stayed in power for short periods of time and often controlled only parts of the country. Moreover, the Treaty of Andrusovo (1667) split the Cossack Hetmanate along the Dnieper River into Left-bank Ukraine, which enjoyed a degree of autonomy within the Tsardom of Russia; and Right-bank Ukraine which remained part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and at times (1672–1699) part of the Ottoman Empire.

In the Russian Empire (1667/1793–1917), in the

Habsburg monarchy, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary (1526/1772–1918)

After the dissolution of the Cossack Hetmanate, a new Malorossiyan collegium was established in 1764, and the Zaporozhian Host was disbanded in 1775. As a result of the second and third Partitions of Poland in 1793 and 1795, eastern and central parts of the territory of present-day Ukraine were incorporated directly into the Russian Empire. The western part became part of the Habsburg monarchy earlier, in the following order: Carpathian Ruthenia (1526/1699), Galicia (1772), and Bukovina (1775).

Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1921)

The Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR, 1917–1921) was formed after the Russian Revolution of 1917, and lasted until the Peace of Riga between Poland and Soviet Russia in March 1921. The leadership title varied and, despite a rather widespread misconception, none of them had the official title of president.

Chairmen of the Central Council

The Central Council (''Tsentral’na rada'') was the representative body governing the UNR.

Hetman of the Ukrainian State

A very short lived Hetmanate was established by Pavlo Skoropadskyi in 1918.

Chairmen of the Directory

The Directorate of Ukraine was a provisional council of the UNR formed after Skoropadskyi's Hetmanate fell apart. On 22 January 1919, the Act of Unification of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian People's Republic was passed. The text of the universal was made by the members of the Directory.

West Ukrainian People's Republic (1918–1919)

The government of the West Ukrainian People's Republic (WUNR) was proclaimed on 19 October 1918. WUNR was united with the Ukrainian People's Republic on 22 January 1919, although it was mostly a symbolic act while the western Ukrainians retained their own Ukrainian Galician Army and government structure. After the Polish-Ukrainian War (1918–1919), Poland took over most of territory of the West Ukrainian People's Republic by July 1919. Since November 1919, the government of the WUNR was in exile.

President of the Ukrainian National Republic

President of

Carpatho-Ukraine

Ukrainian State (1941)

Prime Minister of the

Ukrainian State

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1918/1919–1991)

Ukraine was incorporated into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on 30 December 1922.

Secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine

* Mykola Oleksiiovych Skrypnyk (20 April – 26 May 1918) (Secretary of the Organizational Bureau)
* Yurii Leonidovych Pyatakov (12 July – 9 September 1918)
* Serafima Ilyinichna Hopner (9 September – 23 October 1918)
* Emmanuil Ionovich Kviring (23 October 1918 – 30 May 1919)
* Stanislav Vikentevich Kosior (30 May – 10 December 1919) (first time)
*Vacant (10 December 1919 – January 1920)
* Rafail Borisovich Farbman ( – 23 January March 1920) (acting)
* Nikolay Ilyich Nikolayev (23–25 March 1920)
* Stanislav Vikentevich Kosior (25 March – 23 November 1920) (second time)

First Secretary of the Central Committee
* Vyacheslav Mihailovich Molotov (23 November 1920 – 22 March 1921)
Executive Secretary of the Central Committee
* Feliks Yakovlevich Kon (22 March – 15 December 1921)

First Secretaries of the Communist Party
* Dmitry Zakharovich Manuilsky (15 December 1921 – 10 April 1923)
* Emmanuil Ionovich Kviring (10 December 1923 – 20 March 1925)
General Secretaries of the Central Committee
* Emmanuil Ionovich Kviring (20 March – 7 April 1925)
* Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich (7 April 1925 – 14 July 1928)
* Stanislav Vikentevich Kosior (14 July 1928 – 23 January 1934)
First Secretaries of the Central Committee

* Stanislav Vikentevich Kosior (23 January 1934 – 27 January 1938)
* Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (27 January 1938 – 3 March 1947) (1st time, acting) (in Russian SFSR exile from 1941 until 1944)
* Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich (3 March – 26 December 1947) (second time)
* Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (26 December 1947 – 16 December 1949) (second time)
* Leonid Georgyevich Melnikov (16 December 1949 – 4 June 1953)
* Aleksey Illarionovich Kirichenko (4 June 1953 – 26 December 1957)
* Nikolay Viktorovich Podgorny (26 December 1957 – 2 July 1963)
* Pyotr Yefimovich Shelest (2 July 1963 – 25 May 1972)
* Vladimir Vasilyevich Shcherbitsky (25 May 1972 – 28 September 1989)
* Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko (28 September 1989 – 22 June 1990)
* Stanislav Ivanovich Gurenko (22 June 1990 – 1 September 1991)

Ukraine (1991–present)

On 5 July 1991, the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR passed a law establishing the post of the President of the Ukrainian SSR. The title was changed to the President of Ukraine upon the proclamation of independence (24 August 1991). The first election of the President of Ukraine was held on 1 December 1991.

Presidents

See also

* Bulgars
* Goths
* Huns, List of Hunnic rulers
* Khazars, List of Khazar rulers
* Kingdom of Pontus
* Kings of Cimmerian Bosporus
* List of Crimean khans
* List of etymologies of country subdivision names: "Ukraine"
* List of Galician rulers
* List of leaders of Ukraine
* List of places named after people (Ukraine)
* List of rulers of Galicia and Volhynia
* President of Ukraine
* Prime Minister of Ukraine
* Scythia
* Ukrainian historical regions
* Grand Prince of Kiev

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List of Ukrainian Rulers
Political history of Ukraine
Rulers
Ukraine
rulers