The siege of Kiev by the Pechenegs in 968 is documented in the Primary Chronicle, whose account freely mixes historical details with folklore. According to the chronicle, while Svyatoslav I of Kiev was pursuing his campaign against the First Bulgarian Empire, the Pechenegs (in all probability, bribed by Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Phocas) invaded Rus and besieged his capital of Kiev. While the besieged suffered from hunger and thirst, Svyatoslav's general Pretich deployed his druzhina, his personal guard, on the opposite (left) bank of the Dnieper, not daring to cross the river against the larger Pecheneg force.