Skip to content

← Home

Petro Kishka

A legendary sailor of the first article of the Black Sea Fleet, a scout, and a hero of the first defense of Sevastopol (1854–1855) during the Crimean War, native of the village of Ometyntsi in Vinnytsia Oblast. In official imperial and Soviet discourse, as well as on the monument in Sevastopol, his Ukrainian surname "Kishka" was subjected to russification and recorded as "Koshka."

Overview

Petro Markovych Kishka gained fame through exceptionally brave night raids behind enemy lines, the liberation of prisoners, and the capture of trophies during the 349-day defense of Sevastopol. Despite the sailor's pronounced Ukrainian origin (his native village of Ometyntsi, Sytkivtsi district, Vinnychchyna), russian and Soviet historiography systematically distorted his surname to "Koshka," constructing a myth about a "russian warrior." Even during the period of the "Khrushchev Thaw" and Ukrainization of the 1950s, after the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine, the Ukrainian-language local press in Sevastopol used the rejected russified form of the surname due to systemic resistance and a staffing shortage in linguistics.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Combat path and feats: A legendary scout, sailor of the 30th naval crew of the Black Sea Fleet. Distinguished himself through bold raids, rescuing wounded comrades and officers, seizing enemy weapons, and reconnaissance of bastions under enemy fire.
  • Monument in Sevastopol (1956): Opened on 26 May 1956 in a new square on Malakhov Avenue. The bust was placed on a three-meter pink-granite pedestal with a bronze cartouche (project authors V. P. Petropavlovskyi, senior sailors V. and Yo. Keiduky). On the front face of the pedestal a russian-language inscription reads: "Matros Koshka Petr Markovich, Hero of the Defense of Sevastopol." A delegation of fellow countrymen from his native village of Ometyntsi in Vinnychchyna arrived for the unveiling of the monument.
  • Linguistic russification in the media and publications: The report on the monument's unveiling in the newspaper "Sovetskyi Krym" (28 May 1956), despite being published in Ukrainian, appeared under the headline "Pamiatnyk Petru Koshtsi" [Monument to Petro Koshka] and with the surname "Koshka" used throughout the text. This was explained by the ban on returning to authentic Ukrainian forms and the fear of accusations of "bourgeois nationalism."
  • Vyshyvanka exhibit at the Panorama Museum: The exhibition at the Sevastopol Panorama Museum ("Defense of Sevastopol 1854–1855") for a long time began with Petro Kishka's vyshyvanka (embroidered shirt) as evidence of his Ukrainian roots.
  • Historical parallel of name russification: The practice of replacing the Ukrainian surname "Kishka" with "Koshka" is an element of the general imperial policy of the "stolen name" (in the terminology of Yevhen Nakonechnyi), under which mobilized Ukrainians were marked as "russian" in documents or had their surnames distorted according to russian orthography.