Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Bayan tabbatar da nasarar da ya "fi so" a cikin Yaƙin Holowczyn, duk da cewa sabon sojojin Rasha sun fi shi yawa fiye da uku zuwa ɗaya, Charles ya zaɓi ya yi tafiya zuwa gabas a kan Moscow maimakon ƙoƙarin kama Saint Petersburg, wanda aka kafa daga garin Sweden na Nyenskans shekaru biyar da suka gabata. Duk da haka, Bitrus Mai Girma ya yi nasarar kama sojojin Lewenhaupt a Lesnaya
kafin Charles ya iya hada sojojinsa, don haka ya rasa kayayyaki masu mahimmanci, bindigogi da rabin mutanen Lewenhaupt. Abokin Charles na Poland, Stanisław Leszczyński, yana fuskantar matsalolinsa na ciki. Charles ya yi tsammanin samun goyon bayan babban tawayen Cossack wanda Mazepa ya jagoranta a Ukraine, tare da kimantawa da ke nuna cewa Mazepa ya sami damar tattara kimanin sojoji 40,000. Duk da haka, Rasha ta rinjayi tawayen kuma ta hallaka babban birninta, Baturin, kafin zuwan sojojin Sweden. Har ila yau, yanayi mai tsanani ya ɗauki nauyinsa, domin Charles ya jagoranci sojojinsa zuwa sansanin hunturu a Ukraine.