The third book of the "History of Kiev" project is called "Imperial Kiev" and is dedicated to the history of this city and all of Ukraine from the middle of the 17th century (Pereyaslav Rada) to the reign of Alexander II, when Russia was actually formed as an empire. In the figurative expression of Viktor Kirkevich, he wanted to tell the modern reader “how Kyiv became Moscow”, how it happened that Ukraine lost the statehood it had won with blood, and how the Hetmanate gradually turned into the outskirts of the Russian Empire. But even then, Kiev did not lose its cultural identity and remained the most attractive and revered spiritual center of the empire.About Peter I and Mazepa, about Cyril Razumovsky, the last hetman of Ukraine, and about other remarkable people who lived during this period and glorified Kiev, this book tells.