Amazing south: the city of gray hair

Ochakiv, a city with a long and fascinating history, is located at the very edge of a picturesque mountain where the Dnipro waters meet the Black Sea waves. It is located in the steppe zone of southern Ukraine, in the part where the Dnipro and Bug rivers merge and flow into the Black Sea. The gray waters of the Dnipro and the vast expanses of the Black Sea steppes are, on the one hand, mute witnesses, and on the other hand, eloquent narrators of the rich history of this region, as well as keepers of its secrets.

As part of the "Amazing South" series, Intent is telling the story of one of the oldest and most interesting cities in Mykolaiv region - Ochakiv. Earlier, we told you about the Dead Sea's competitor from Odesa region - the Kuyalnyk estuary, the protected pearl of Mykolaiv region - Buzky Gard, the birthplace of the Cossacks in Kherson region - Stanislav, the Muslim capital of Ukraine - Bakhchisarai, and an underrated health resort in Odesa region on the Budak Estuary.

Tales of the ancient times

There are many answers to the date of Ochakiv's foundation. The territory of the modern city has been inhabited since ancient times. The archaeologists chose the white city because of the molds for the castings of Bronze Age tools, and on the outskirts of the city they found a burial ground of the IV-I centuries BC. A treasure trove of Olbian and ancient Greek coins was found in Ochakiv, and the remains of several Greek and Scythian settlements and mounds were found on the Kinburn Spit opposite it. According to the available versions, this land was home to the Sarmatian settlement of Alector in the first to third centuries AD, whose life and death story remains a mystery.

The steppe lands of this area are a treasure trove of archaeological finds: Pony's specialists have found traces of Slavic settlements in the Dnipro River and on the island of Berezan dating back to the 9th-12th centuries. This is where the southernmost outpost of Kievan Rus was located at one time. These settlements were destroyed by numerous hordes of nomads, and for a whole century the Northern Black Sea region remained sparsely populated. In the thirteenth century, the lands were captured by the Mongol-Tatars and became part of the Golden Horde. The assassination of Khan Janibek in 1357 marked the beginning of the collapse of this state.

PHOTO: lb.ua

In the fourteenth century, the Genoese colonists built the fortress of Lerich on the site of present-day Ochakiv. The Genoese also founded a shopping center and a port here. After the situation in the region became turbulent due to constant raids by the Nogai, the Genoese from Lerich sought protection from the masters of the Moldavian principality, who already had considerable power in Europe at that time. During the reign of Alexander the Good, Genoese lords from the Lerici fortress voluntarily became vassals of the Moldovan ruler. However, disagreements between the representatives of the dynasties that ruled Moldova in those years led to the fact that the Moldovan boyars became hostile to their vassals from the Lărica fortress. Therefore, in 1455, Moldovan pirates from Cetatia Alba (now Belgorod-Dniester) suddenly attacked Lerici. The Genoese who ran the fortress were taken prisoner and sent to the Moldovan governor Petro Aron.

It is also known that in the 15th century the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas built the Dashev fortress on the territory of present-day Ochakiv. Historians claim that as part of the policy of expanding the borders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania "from sea to sea," he built his fortresses in the south: Sokolets (now Voznesensk), Dashev, Kachukleniv (Khadzhibey, Odesa), Mayak-Karavul on the Dniester Estuary (now Mayaki, Odesa region).

At that time, the Crimean nobility was "friends" with the Lithuanian princes. For example, the founder of the Giray dynasty and the independent Crimean state, the first Crimean khan Haji I Geray (Girey) received military and political support from Lithuanian princes (in particular, Sigismund Keistutovych and Casimir IV ) in the fight against the Golden Horde. After his death, a feud for the throne began, which resulted in Mengli Geray coming to power. It was then that the Crimea was conquered by Turkey. And in 1492, the Crimean khan founded a city on the site of the Lithuanian fortress of Dashev, which was originally called Kara-Kermen, the Black Fortress.

In the sixteenth century, the Ottomans occupied the entire northern part of the Black Sea region. Kara Kermen became the center of Turkish possessions between the Dnipro and Dniester estuaries. In their own way, they renamed the city first to Uz-Kale, the River Fortress, and then it closed the exit from the Dnipro. Later, after the fortress was fortified, it was called Achi-Kale, which translates to fortress by the sea. For almost three centuries it was known by this name.

In the eighteenth century, the city consisted of a large fortress on a hill and forts on the lower terrace, including the large fort of Hasan Pasha. Achi-Kale became the main base of the Turkish fleet on the northern shores of the Black Sea. With the beginning of the Russo-Turkish War, the two empires began a constant confrontation for strategic access to the Black Sea. In 1737, the army of the Russian Empire laid siege to Ochakiv, considering it the main outpost on the northern coast of the Black Sea. As a result, the Turkish army surrendered. The capture was carried out by Marshal Christopher Minich. In the fall of the same year, the Ottomans tried to regain their former possessions, but in vain.

Over time, Ochakiv lost its role as a significant trade center as the city of Odesa began to develop. The fortress was dismantled after Russia's defeat in the Crimean War. The stones of the fortress were used to build a unique fortification island called Battery Island. Its construction was completed in 1874. Over time, the island was renamed Pervomaiskyi and was known by that name for a long time. Now it is called Kozachyi and is an important strategic military facility with restricted access. And there is no trace of the fortress in Ochakiv.

The Cossack trace in the history of Ochakiv

Russian propaganda claims that before the arrival of the empire, this area was a wasteland, but this is not true. Until the Middle Ages, the Polovtsians lived here, and the Crimean Tatars lived in Crimea. The inhabitants of the region were engaged in farming and cattle breeding. Another feature of the region is its access to two seas, which opened up routes for shipping.

However, this was not the case. As historian Serhiy Bilivnenko explains, before the Russian invasion in the 18th century, the Crimean Khanate existed in southern Ukraine. There were also cities such as Ochakiv, Izmail, Khadzhibey (now modern Odesa), and so on. These towns were both multinational and multiethnic, with Armenians, Jews, and Greeks, among others, living in them.

Thus, Russian historiography imposes myths that the history of Ochakiv is limited to the capture of the Turkish fortress by Russian troops, as if there were no Lithuanian, Crimean, or Cossack "pages" in its past.

In fact, as mentioned above, Ochakiv had been playing an important strategic role even before the arrival of the Ottomans. And in the 15th and 17th centuries, Ukrainian Cossacks repeatedly attacked Ottoman fortifications in the region to control the Black Sea coast. However, the city was not only a military outpost, but also a significant trade center through which goods from Europe, the Crimea, and the Middle East passed.

The real story of Ochakiv is the story of the struggle for control of the Black Sea region, in which Ukrainian Cossacks and other peoples continued to play an important role, despite the attempts of imperial historians to erase them from this narrative. The pages of Ochakiv's history contain the names of the legendary atamans Ivan Sirko, Petro Sahaidachnyi, Semen Palii, Sydor Bilyi, Zakhar Chepiga, and Anton Holovaty, who fought for these lands.

In general, the first mention of the Cossacks appearing on the Dnipro's thresholds dates back to the end of the 15th century. In 1492, Zaporizhzhia Cossacks attacked a Turkish naval gallery near Tyahynya and liberated Ukrainians who had been captured and sold into slavery. As Professor Mykhailo Hrushevsky wrote, this was the first official mention of the Cossacks' actions at sea and the first official mention of the Zaporizhzhia Cossacks in general. Thus, on August 1, 1492, the Zaporizhzhia Cossacks marched to the Dnipro Estuary under the leadership of Prince Bohdan Hlynskyi, Genghis Khan and a descendant of Mamai. This is the first written mention of the Cossacks, describing how near Tyahynya, in the lower reaches of the Dnipro, the Cossacks boarded an Ottoman galley and freed slaves.

In addition, without any opposition, the Crimean khan Mengli I Gerai was forced to complain to Grand Duke Alexander I of Lithuania for the first time about the actions of the Cossack squadron.

The most famous "Cossack" episode occurred when in 1659 the Cossack military council proclaimed Ivan Sirko the ataman of the Zaporozhian Lowland Army. From 1660 to 1679, Zaporizhzhia Cossacks under the command of the naval commander and ataman Ivan Sirko repeatedly made campaigns to the coast and stormed the fortress of Ochakiv more than once. In preparation for a new offensive, the sultan's government began building two fortresses in the lower Dnipro River in the spring of 1679. The Turkish government had long intended to build fortresses on the Dnipro, which were strongholds during campaigns in Left-Bank Ukraine. A 25,000-strong army was to oppose the Zaporozhian Sich. It is with this Turkish campaign that historical tradition associates the famous response of the Cossacks and their ataman Ivan Sirko to the Turkish sultan.

IMAGE: Ochakiv portal

Near Ochakiv in the field
Zaporizhzhia Sich revels;
Ivan Sirko in a drunken circle
Rebel honey circles.
Over the Cossack riotous camp
Candles lit the night;
Writing a letter to the Sultan
Zaporizhzhia Cossacks.. .
( Hryhorii Hromovyi "Near Ochakiv in the field").

Ochakiv sights and attractions

St. Nicholas Cathedral

St. Nicholas Cathedral is the oldest building in the city, and the only one that was damaged during the Russo-Turkish War in 1788. At that time, Ochakiv was still under the rule of the Turks, and the cathedral was a Muslim mosque.

PHOTO: travels.in.ua

It is not known exactly when the religious building was erected, but it is likely that its construction coincides with the period of the foundation of the fortress on this territory in the late XV century. In 1788, when Ochakiv was the epicenter of military events, the fortress was destroyed, and the mosque was significantly damaged. A little later, a wooden dome was erected over it. Since then, the building has belonged to the Orthodox Church. Gradually, an altar, a narthex, and a bell tower were added. Since 1842 the church was called the military cathedral, and in the early twentieth century a parochial school for children from poor families was opened here.

In the Soviet era, the church suffered a fate typical of all religious buildings of that time. In the thirties of the last century, the church was closed and turned into a House of Pioneers. Since 1960, the cathedral has housed the Suvorov Museum of Local Lore. Only in the 2000s was the cathedral returned to the parishioners and church services resumed.

Museum of Marinology named after R. G. Sudkovsky

Ochakiv is the birthplace of the famous nineteenth-century marine painter Rufin Gavrilovich Sudkovsky, whose part of the city is home to the first museum in Ukraine dedicated to marine painting. This is a type of fine art in which the main object of the image is the sea.

PHOTO: discover.ua

The Marinist Museum was opened in 1982 on the basis of the Mykolaiv Regional Art Museum named after V.V. Vereshchagin. The museum building was built before the revolution, and during the Soviet Union it was used as a barracks and a clinic.

Today, the museum houses over 600 works of fine art. The museum's exposition has three halls. The first hall is dedicated to the life and work of Rufin Sudkovsky. At that time, marine painting was not a popular form of painting, which adds special value to the master's paintings. They depict the landscapes of Mykolaiv region: Lake Berezan, Kinburn Spit, Dnipro-Bug Estuary. In this hall, you can see 17 works by Rufin Sudkovsky, as well as archival photographs, documents, and personal belongings.

The second hall of the museum presents the works of marine painters of the late XIX - early XX centuries, including the pearl of the exhibition - original examples of I. Aivazovsky's work: the sketches "Surf" and "Sea", as well as the painting "Sunset in Malorossia". The third hall of the exhibition contains works of art by painters of the twentieth century.

Ochakiv Military History Museum

The Ochakiv Military History Museum was opened in 1972 in the building of St. Nicholas Cathedral, a former Muslim mosque. Later, the museum moved to a new building in the city center, and since 2008, the renovated museum has been open to visitors.

PHOTO: OVIM

The museum's exposition is housed in three halls and presents about two thousand exhibits that reflect the historical picture of the region from the settlements of recent times to the events of World War II. The first section of the exposition is devoted to the development of the Black Sea steppes by the Eastern Slavs of Kievan Rus in the 9th and 10th centuries and the restructuring of a part of the northern Black Sea coast as part of the Polish-Lithuanian state.

The second hall highlights the historical facts of the Turkish-Tatar domination of the Northern Black Sea region in the XV-XVII centuries, the construction of a fortress on the territory of present-day Ochakiv and the Kinburn fortification. The exhibition includes finds discovered during the Ukrainian-Turkish archaeological expeditions of 1997-1998, including coins of the Tatar Khanate, jewelry of that period, details of military equipment, etc.

The third section of the exhibition is devoted to the campaigns of the Zaporizhzhia Cossacks to Ochakiv and their glorious exploits: Dmytro Vyshnevetskyi and his rescue of a large number of slaves from the fortress; Petro Sahaidachnyi, who became famous for his naval campaigns against the Turks; Ivan Sirko, who in 1669 carried out a successful military maneuver, freeing Orthodox prisoners from the Ochakiv fortress.

Among the museum's exhibits are historical objects that demonstrate the events of the struggle between Russia and Turkey for the Black Sea coast. This part of the exposition is accompanied by paintings, engravings, dioramas, firearms and cold steel, awards, trophy banners, coins, Turkish seals, etc.

Previously, the museum was called the Ochakiv Military History Museum named after A.V. Suvorov, but in May 2025 it was renamed by the Mykolaiv Regional Council as a result of Russia's large-scale military invasion of Ukraine.

Ochakiv coastal battery

The coastal battery, located north of Ochakiv, was built in the early twentieth century. Your armament consisted of outdated guns of the 1898 model, which had a low rate of fire. In the 20s, the battery was modernized and 152-mm guns were installed. It was then that it was assigned the serial number 15.

PHOTO: rest.guru.ua

In 1939-40, according to the plan to rearm the coastal defense batteries of the Black Sea Fleet, four 203-mm guns were installed on the 15th battery. In cooperation with Coastal Battery No. 22, located on Pervomaiskyi (now Kozachyi) Island, the 15th Battery was able to provide cover for Ochakiv and the waters of the Dnipro-Bug Estuary. In 1941, the Ochakiv battery was blown up during the offensive of the Nazi invaders.

After the Second World War, the territory of the 15th Battery was used by air defense units and signalmen. In the 90s, it was abandoned and had no security for more than 10 years. During this time, all metal structures were stolen. However, after 2008, military personnel returned to the battery's territory and the facility is now under protection.

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These are just some of the sights of Ochakiv. The surroundings of the ancient city contain many interesting natural and historical sites, including the National Historical and Archaeological Reserve "Olvia", the legendary Berezan Island, Kinburn and Tendra Spits, the National Nature Park "Sviatoslav's Biloberizhzhia", Kozachyi (Mayskyi) Island, and others. But this is a topic for another conversation.

In its age, the glorious city of Ochakiv has undergone many enemy captures, wars, and destruction. It seemed that all these events were in the distant past, but unfortunately, now it is again suffering from enemy attacks by the invaders. The city is constantly shelled by the Russian occupiers.

Юлія Сичова