Left-bank Ukraine (Ukrainian: Лівобережна Україна, romanized: Livoberezhna Ukrayina; Russian: Левобережная Украина, romanized: Levoberezhnaya Ukraina; Polish: Lewobrzeżna Ukraina) is a historic name of the part of Ukraine on the left (east) bank of the Dnieper River, comprising the modern-day oblasts of Chernihiv, Poltava and Sumy as well as the eastern parts of Kyiv and Cherkasy.

Since the Middle Ages, the region formed part of the Khazar Khanate, Kievan Rus', Mongol Empire, Golden Horde, Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland.

The term appeared in 1663 with the election of Ivan Bryukhovetsky as the hetman of Ukraine in opposition to Pavlo Teteria.

Bryukhovetsky was the first known "left-bank Ukraine" hetman over the area, that was under the Russian influence.

[2][3] Under Russian rule, the left-bank Ukraine initially enjoyed a degree of autonomy within the Tsardom (from 1721, Imperial Russia) as the Cossack Hetmanate, which was slowly withdrawn throughout the eighteenth century when the Zaporizhian Sich was destroyed.