After the death of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytskyi in 1657, Ukraine was torn apart over his succession. On one side, the majority of senior Cossack officers who supported Khmelnytskyi during the wars against the Poles, on the other the pro-Russians grouped around Colonel Martin Pouchkar who aspired to become the master of Ukraine, supported by a part of the Zaporozhian Cossacks opposed the election of the new Hetman Ivan Vyhovskyi. The seals of the late Hetman kept by his daughter Olena are coveted by Zahrava who does not hesitate to kidnap the wife and two children of Jourba, a faithful servant of the Hetman.
