SUMMARY: This essay discusses the construction of early modern political, cultural, and national identity in Ukraine. It begins with a review of 16 th -century accounts that did not clearly define the ethnic or religious identity of the Cossacks. This is followed by a discussion of the attempts of various groups (representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox hierarchy or Polish elite) to claim Cossackdom as part of their political, religious, or national space. If the Pereiaslav Agreement (1654) laid the foundations of a Little Russian Cossack identity, the Union of Hadiach (1658) may be regarded as the basis for the view of the Cossack-led Ruthenian nation as an equal partner in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Poltava debacle (1709) put an end to the formation of a distinct Cossack-based national identity in the Hetmanate.