юри росіцького
Ivan Petrovych Kotliarevsky 1769 in Poltava – 10 November 1838 in Poltava, Russian Empire, now Ukraine, was a Ukrainian writer, poet and playwright, social activist, regarded as the pioneer of modern Ukrainian literature. Kotlyarevsky was a veteran of the Russo-Turkish War.
Kotlyarevsky was born in the Ukrainian city of Poltava in the family of a clerk. After studying at the Poltava Theological Seminary , he worked as a tutor for the gentry at rural estates, where he became familiar with Ukrainian folk life and the peasant vernacular. He served in the Imperial Russian Army between 1796 and 1808 in the Siversky Karabiner Regiment. Kotlyarevsky participated in the Russo-Turkish War as a staff-captain during which the Russian troops laid the siege to the city of Izmail. In 1808 he retired from the Army. In 1810 he became the trustee of an institution for the education of children of impoverished nobles. In 1812, during the French invasion of Imperial Russia he organized the 5th Ukrainian Cossack Regiment in the town of Horoshyn under the condition that it will be left after the war as a permanent military formation. For that he received a rank of major.
He helped stage theatrical productions at the Poltava governor-general's residence and was the artistic director of the Poltava Free Theater between 1812 and 1821. In 1818 together with Vasyl Lukashevych, V.Taranovsky, and others he was the member of the Poltava Freemasonry Lodge The Love for Truth . Kotlyarevsky participated in the buyout of Mikhail Shchepkin out of the serfdom. From 1827 to 1835 he directed several philanthropic agencies.