16th-century Ukrainian people

Ivan Pidkova (Ukrainian: Іван Підкова) or Ioan Potcoavă (died 16 June 1578), also known as Ioan Creţul, and Nicoară Potcoavă among Romanians, was a prominent Cossack ataman, and short-lived Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia (November–December 1577). His moniker ("pidkova" in Ukrainian/"potcoavă" in Romanian – "horseshoe") is said to originate in the fact that he used to ride his stallions to the point of breaking off their horseshoes; another version says that he could break and unbend both horseshoes and coins with his fists. He is perhaps best known as the hero of Ukraine's bard Taras Shevchenko's poem Ivan Pidkova (1840). Celebrated as a Ukrainian hero he led the Moldavian and Ukrainian struggle against Turkish domination. In his poem on Pidkova, Shevcenko "lets his mind travel over the Ukrainian past," expressing his admiration for the Ukrainian Cossacks.

Eustachy Daszkiewicz or Ostap Daszko (Ukrainian: Остап Дашкевич; born in Ovruch – died after 1535) is considered to be the first recorded leader of a Cossack defense force (according to Dmitri Bantysh-Kamensky, Dmytro Doroshenko, and others). However that claim of "first" is debatable because there were many other early leaders, including Bohdan Glinski from Severia and Dmytro Vyshnevetsky.

Dmytro Ivanovych Vyshnevetsky (Ukrainian: Дмитро Іванович Вишневе́цький; Russian: Дмитрий Иванович Вишневе́цкий; Polish: Dymitr Wiśniowiecki) was a magnate of Ruthenian (Ukrainian) origin and an organizer of Zaporozhian Cossacks who established a stronghold on the island of Mala Khortytsia. He was also known as Baida (Байда) in Ukrainian folk songs.