Khotmyzh

Khotmyzh stood on the Vorskla, a place named in late-medieval lists before a new Muscovite fortress revived it in 1640. The rebuilt town belonged to the Belgorod defensive line. In June that year, the commander Vasily Tolstoy reported that he had erected a stockade, towers, firing positions and a ditch, together with a state storehouse and a concealed access passage. A wooden Resurrection church formed part of the same construction effort.

Haste left weaknesses. When Fyodor Pushkin took command in March 1641, he criticised the quality of the work; Moscow excused Tolstoy because of the speed required. By 1650 a major rebuilding was necessary. The commander Kirill Arsenyev altered the plan, increasing the number of towers from seven to ten while reducing the gates from three to two. Fortress, church and garrison gave Khotmyzh a renewed role in the settlement and defence of the forest-steppe frontier.