After the successful completion of negotiations with the Turkish Empire, which resulted in a declaration of neutrality by the Turks, Tsar Peter I traveled to his headquarters located in the hamlet Krytoi Bereg (Steep Bank) on the left bank of Vorskla River. During a council of war the decision was made to engage in battle with the Swedes. The Swedish army was camped on the other side of the river. On June 16, 1709, the main body of the Russian army crossed the river at three fords approximately 12 km north of Poltava, and set up camp near the village Semenovka (now Krotenki). To commemorate this crossing a concrete obelisk, crowned with a double-headed bronze eagle (dismantled soon after 1917), was unveiled in 1909 on top of a hill on the right bank of the Vorskla close to the village Semenovka. The earlier monument was replaced in 1959 with a new granite obelisk designed by architects Shmulson and Pasichny. The sign on the monument reads: "This is the place where the Russian Army crossed the Vorskla River at three fords on June 20, 1709.”