(1015 – 1019)
After the death of Vladimir the Saint, internecine strife occurred between his sons.
Svyatopolk declared himself the Grand Duke of Kiev. He had a plan to kill all the brothers in order to own the entire Russian land.
From the hands of the murderers sent to them, his brothers Boris and Gleb, and also Svyatoslav, died martyrically. And his brother Yaroslav, having gathered a large army, went against him and won.
Svyatopolk, expelled from Kiev, fled to his father-in-law, his Polish king Boleslaw Khrabrom, who helped him again to occupy Kiev.
But later, as a result of a quarrel with Svyatopolk, Boleslav returned to Poland. Yaroslav, taking advantage of this, again attacked Svyatopolk and defeated him on the bank of the river Alta.
Svyatopolk fled and died in a foreign land. For their villainy is called “Damned.” Boris and Gleb the church is ranked as saints.