Mdd1, several issues here:
1) I quoted numbers of victims from recent research. I have no independent opinion on that, but this seems to be more fact-based research than oral history from that time.
2) not sure how history of Litvish/Polish ownership of Slav regions is relevant here. It has nothing to do with Russia, aka Moscovia. I don;t think we need to resolve battles between Kiev, Poland, etc. If we take a side, it should be Jewish Khazars 🙂
3) my main point was that this Ukrainian cruel rebellion was the beginning of Russian occupation of Polish (and thus Jewish) areas, leading to several centuries of difficult Jewish history, including pogroms, cantonists, etc, etc. Note that Ukrainians or whoever they were at the time, Kozaks, peasants wanted to be “partners” with the Czar and soon understood that they made a deal with the devil, but it was too late.
4) the essence of pogrom (russian word) is not just violence, but that it was organized and had government support. So, even if Ukrainian peasants attacked Jews (obviously, not Russian peasants as Jews were not allowed to live in Russia proper with exceptions), it was impossible to defend as the police will arrest the Jews who would try to fight.
5) Jews consistently took the Polish side during the latter rebellions against Russia. The only pro-Russian group seemed to be Chabad, with Alter Rebbe deciding that Napoleons come and go, but Russian Czar will still be there … and anyway safer from haskala .. He passed away running away from Napoleon