In September 1660, the commander of the Russian army, Sheremetev – acting on misleading information greatly underestimating the numerical strength of the Polish army – decided to seek out and destroy the Polish forces with what he believed would be overwhelming strength (15,000 Russian soldiers and 15,000–35,000 of his Cossack allies).

[1] Sheremetev's major tactical error was to advance relying on outdated and sparse intelligence reports, and without adequate scouting;[4] he expected only a weak army of 10,000 (in fact, it numbered only about 7,000)[1] under Great Crown Hetman Stanisław "Rewera" Potocki, and was unaware it was soon to be reinforced by about 12,000 men[1] under Field Crown Hetman Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski who had recently defeated Russian army in Lithuania.

The Polish commanders – hetmans Potocki and Lubomirski – had much better intelligence (they were also aided by Ivan Vyhovsky's spy network), and became quickly aware of Sheremetev's error.

The combined Polish army (not counting 12,000 Tatars and 1,500 Cossacks under Vyhovsky) numbered about 27,000 (including about 700 Winged Hussars, 8,000 pancerni, 3,500 light cavalry, 1,500 raitars, 5,000 dragoons, and 10,000 infantry).

[1] Sheremetev troops (not counting Cossacks) numbered 18,000 (including 4,500 Russian traditional cavalry, 5,500 raitars, 3,500 dragoons, 3,000 foreign infantry and 1,000 streltsy).

Shermetev's front guard was wiped out, and Sheremetev – who until then had failed to send a single scouting party and suddenly realized what was to be an easy victory was a death trap – decided to take defensive positions in a fortified camp.

Another attempt on 14 October, initially more successful, proved to be also futile and only succeeded in moving the camp to a non-flooded area.

[7] Having learned that Khmelnytsky signed the treaty with the Poles, Tsetsura decided to defect, and did so on 21 October (his Cossacks were however ambushed by the Tatars and suffered heavy casualties).

The battle was a major victory for the Poles, who succeeded in eliminating most of Russian forces, weakened the Cossacks and kept their alliance with the Crimean Tatars.

The Poles, however, were unable to capitalize on that victory; their army retreated in poor order (there was little aid for the wounded, which accounted for hundreds of deaths after the battle).

A similar development took place in Pereiaslav whose inhabitants led by Yakym Somko swore "to die for the great Tsar, for God's churches and Orthodox faith".