Historical records, both Ukrainian and international, indicate that neither Odesa nor Mykolaiv arose “from scratch,” as the Kremlin asserts. Instead, both cities developed over time from earlier settlements and existing trade centers.
The Kremlin continues to leverage historical narratives to advance its worldview, often distorting facts. Most recently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asserted that Odesa and Mykolaiv were “created by Russian people.”
Through such historical distortions, Russia seeks to reshape the narrative of southern Ukraine, implying that the region is “exclusively Russian territory.”
In fact, historical records indicate that both cities’ histories predate any involvement by the Russian Empire.
The area where Mykolaiv later developed was long inhabited by Ukrainians. It featured Cossack settlements, slobodas, and seasonal quarters of the Zaporizhian Sich. The Zaporizhian Cossacks controlled the mouth of the Southern Bug, a site of strategic importance for trade and defense. The population was predominantly ethnic Ukrainian, supplemented by settlers from Poltava, Chernihiv, Kyiv, and other provinces.
Research on Mykolaiv Oblast indicates that the region was settled as far back as the era of ancient Greek city-states, including Olbia, one of the largest cities in the Northern Black Sea. Mykolaiv’s modern development did not begin with the Russian Empire, but with the Crimean Khanate and Ukrainian Cossack colonization by the Zaporizhian Sich.
Another persistent Russian propaganda claim is that Odesa was a city “founded by Russians.” Historical evidence shows that settlements existed on the site long before the Russian Empire’s arrival. In the 14th century, the port of Kotsyubeyiv (Kaczubyeiow) was established by nobleman Kotsyub Yakushynsky during the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, first mentioned in 1415. Control later passed to the Crimean Tatars and the Ottomans, who built the fortress of Khadjibey, while surrounding areas remained inhabited by Ukrainian Cossacks. The 1789 storming of Khadjibey involved not only regular troops but also units of Black Sea Cossacks led by Anton Holovaty and Zakhar Chepiga. That Muscovites themselves did not view themselves as Odesa’s founders is reflected in an 1894 postcard commemorating “The Hundredth Anniversary of the Annexation of Odesa to Russia.”
StopFake has previously debunked claims that Odesa, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv sought to “return to Russia,” as well as the false assertion that Ukrainians never lived in Odesa.
