The Campaign against the Russian garrisons[b] was the first major phase of the Left-bank uprising, aimed at destroying the Russian garrisons in the cities of Left-bank Ukraine. The Cossacks launched a series of coordinated sieges that led mostly to a fall of most of the Russian-held cities, excluding several cities that continued to fight until August–September of 1668.
Briukhovetsky, who had become a hetman in 1663 after the 1663 Black Council, was of a Pro-Moscow orientation for a long time. In 1665, after the signing of Moscow articles, the Russian garrisons were placed in several Ukrainian cities, leading to an intensification of the tensions between the local population and the Russian voivodes. After the Truce of Andrusovo, which partitioned the Cossack Hetmanate along the Dnieper, his reputation went down even more. On 9 of January 1668, on a rada in Hadiach, he declared about the breakup with Russia and alliance with the Ottoman Empire and the Right-bank hetmanPetro Doroshenko, leading to the uprising against Russia.
Campaign
The campaign began at the end on the same month. On 30 of January, the Cossacks besieged the Russian garrison of Isai Kvashnin in Novhorod-Siverskyi[2]. Despite the stubborn resistance and the attempts of negotiations, the garrison was eventually defeated and Kvashnin was killed. In the meanwhile, the Cossacks of Ivan SamoylovychbesiegedChernihiv and captured the old and new towns of the city, however their attempts to capture the Upper small town ended in a failure. In Hlukhiv, the Russian garrison was besieged and eventually defeated. Its commander, Miron Kologrivov, was captured[3]. On 8 of February, the Cossacks defeated the Russian garrison in Hadiach. In Starodub, the Cossacks led by Petro Roslavlets assaulted the fortress and captured it on 15[c] of February[3][4]. The entire garrison of Starodub fortress was either killed or captured, including its commander, Ignatiy Volkonskiy[4]. The Cossacks captured 26 cannons in the city. In Nizhyn, the Cossacks led by Artem Martynovych besieged the Nizhyn castle, where a Russian garrison of Ivan Rzhevsky was dislocated, and began firing it from cannons. All of the Cossack attempts to capture the castle were repelled. Per the report from Lazar Branovich on 8 of March, the Cossacks lost about 2,500 people in total during the siege of Nizhyn[5]. In February, the Russian garrison started the negotiations with the Cossacks in order to achieve a temporary ceasefire[5]. These talks were not successful. As of 10 March, the Cossacks established control over the entire territory of Siversk regiment[4]. In the same month, the Cossacks of Roslavets raided Bryansk and inflicted casualties on the garrison[4].
Aftermath
As a result of the campaign, by mid-March most of the Russian garrisons were either destroyed or expelled from Ukraine. The only Russian-held cities that managed to outstand the campaign were Nizhyn, Chernihiv, Pereyaslav and Oster.[1] Control over these cities allowed the Russians to maintain their presence on the Left-bank. At the end of March, Romodanovsky invaded Ukraine with the goal of unblocking the Russian garrisons, reaching Kyiv and fully suppressing the Cossack revolt. His units besieged the cities of Kotelva and Pochep, leading to a failure of Romodanovsky's expedition. The sieges of both towns were lifted in June 1668 by the invading forces of Petro Doroshenko, who had clashed with Romodanovsky at Khukhra and forced him to retreat, but did not bring a decisive victory. After the battle of Sevsk, in which the Tatar-Cossack detachment was defeated, Doroshenko was forced to leave the Left-bank, which allowed Romodanovsky to invade Ukraine once again. The siege of Nizhyn was lifted in August of 1668,[6] its population and the population of Voronizh was massacred.[7] The siege of Russian garrison in Chernihiv was lifted on 20 of September as a result of Romodanovsky's assault on the old and new towns.[8]
1 2 "ПОВСТАННЯ ЛІВОБЕРЕЖНЕ 1668". resource.history.org.ua. Retrieved 2025-08-18. By mid-March, majority of Left-Bank was liberated from the Russian presence, with only Nizhyn, Chernihiv, Pereyaslav (now the city of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi) and Oster remaining under the control of the tsarist voivodes
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Cossack Hetmanate 
Tsardom of Russia