Danila Nechai
Nechai, Danila
Date of birth unknown; died Feb. 20 (Mar. 2), 1651. Hero of the Ukrainian people’s war of liberation against the oppression of the gentry-dominated Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1648 to 1654; a close follower of B. Khmel’nitskii. Colonel from Bratslav.
Nechai opposed the compromise Zborov Treaty of 1649, and in 1649–50 he led a major uprising against the Polish nobility. He was killed in a battle with Polish troops in the small town of Krasnoe in Podolia. The Ukrainian people composed songs and dumy (folk ballads) about his heroic exploits.