Soviet forces reentered Ukraine in November 1918, as the Central Powers withdrew and the collapse of the Ukrainian State of Hetman P. P. Skoropadskii became imminent. This time a Provisional Workers’ and Peasants’ Government (renamed the Council of People’s Commissars on 10 March 1919) was established at Sudzha and proclaimed the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, but in the course of 1919, Soviet forces were again driven from Ukraine by the advance of the White Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR), which captured Kiev on 31 August that year. When the AFSR collapsed, Kiev was again captured by Soviet forces (on 16–17 December 1919), but they were obliged to withdraw from the Ukrainian capital once more, on 6–8 May 1920, with the arrival of Polish and Ukrainian forces at the beginning of the active stage of the Soviet–Polish War. Moscow’s hold over Ukraine—but not Eastern Galicia (Western Ukraine), which went to Poland—was, however, confirmed by the Treaty of Riga (18 March 1921) that brought an end to that war and offered Polish recognition of the Ukrainian SSR (thereby dooming the cause of Ukrainian nationalists).
Following the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, the Ukrainian SSR became a constituent part of the Soviet Union in 1923. Its capital was initially sited at Khar′kov, until 1934, when that function was transferred to Kiev (which had by then been purged of most traces of the nationalist cause). The state ceased to exist on 1 December 1991, following Ukraine’s independence.
UKRAINIAN–SOVIET WAR. See SOVIET–UKRAINIAN WAR.
UKRAINIAN STATE. The Ukrainian State (in Ukrainian, Ukrainska derzhava) was the official title of the generally conservative and nationalist polity (often referred to as the Hetmanate) that was established following a coup at Kiev on 29 April 1918, led by Hetman P. P. Skoropadskii, that (temporarily) overthrew the pro-socialist Ukrainian National Republic (UNR). Skoropadskii’s regime rested on the support of the occupying forces of the Austro-German intervention, who were attempting to extract from Ukraine the food resources and other prizes promised to them under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (27 January 1918). The regime was markedly Russophile in complexion and faced opposition from much of the Ukrainian peasantry, as well as politicians associated with the UNR (notably those involved with the Ukrainian National-State Union) and military forces such as the Sich Riflemen (disbanded by Skoropadskii in May 1918, but reluctantly reformed by him in August).
On the day of the coup that brought him to power, Skoropadskii issued two edicts, a “Manifesto to the Entire Ukrainian Nation” and “Laws Concerning the Provisional State System of Ukraine,” which together constituted a provisional constitution for the new regime. The Ukrainian Central Rada and the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian National Republic and their laws and land reforms were all abolished, and the right of private land ownership was reinstated. All legislative and executive powers were transferred to the Hetman, who was simultaneously proclaimed commander in chief of the Hetmanite Army. The edicts also created a Council of Ministers, with executive and legislative functions, to be appointed by the Hetman and to be responsible solely to him. Decrees and orders of the Hetman had to be countersigned by the prime minister (or another responsible minister), but the Hetman was to ratify all decisions of the council, thereby reinforcing his dictatorial powers. The name of the Ukrainian State was supposed to reinforce the notion that this new entity was a distinctly Ukrainian variant of a constitutional monarchy, based on some ill-defined aspects of the traditional Cossack Hetmanate of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Skoropadskii initially nominated Mykola Ustymovych and then Mykola Vasylenko to form a government from representatives of moderate Ukrainian parties, mainly the Ukrainian Party of Socialists-Federalists (UPSF). However, neither succeeded in establishing a stable cabinet because most Ukrainian political parties, including the UPSF, boycotted the regime. Eventually a cabinet was formed (on 10 May 1918) that included the following ministers: premier and minister of internal affairs, Fedir Lyzohub; foreign affairs, Dmytro Doroshenko; army, Aleksandr Rogoza; finance, Antin Rzhepetskii; trade, S. Gutnik; agriculture, Vasilii Kolokoltsov; food supply, Iurii Sokolovskii; religion, Vasilii Zenkovskii; health, Vsevolod Liubynskii; education, Vasylenko; communication, B. Butenko; justice, Mykhailo Chubynskii; labor, Iu. Vagner; state controller, Iurii Afanasev; and state secretary, Ihor Kistiakovskii. Numerous changes were made to that list during the summer of 1918; notably, S. N. Gerbel′ became minister of food provisions, A. Romanov became minister of justice, Kistiakovskii became minister of internal affairs, and S. Zavadskii became state secretary. The ministries of the UNR were also overhauled; most deputy ministers and many senior bureaucrats were replaced, although the majority of officials from the previous government remained in their posts. Local administration was entrusted to provincial and county commissioners appointed by the Hetman, who tended to distrust the elected zemstvos.
Although its social and economic policies were a failure, as a consequence of resistance from the peasantry, notably in southeastern Ukraine (where the forces of Nestor Makhno were burgeoning) and along the mid-Dnepr (where Iurii Tiutiunnyk had his base), the Hetman government achieved some successes in diplomacy, establishing diplomatic relations with the Central Powers and several neutral countries and strengthening relations with the Kuban Cossack Host and the Don Cossack Host. In accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918), the Ukrainian State was even formally (albeit reluctantly) recognized by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, with which it signed a preliminary peace treaty on 12 June 1918. It also established the Ukrainian state universities of Kiev and Kamenets-Podol′skii, the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, a national library (today the Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine), a national archive, a state museum and a state music and drama institute in Kiev. It also “Ukrainianized” all schools and made the teaching of Ukrainian language, history, and geography compulsory. In addition, it built a reasonably effective Ukrainian Army (although the sympathies of its officers were often more pro-Russian or pro-UNR than pro-Hetman).
From its very beginnings, the Ukrainian State was opposed by most Ukrainian political organizations. Ukrainian nationalists despised its pro-Russian orientation (symbolized by the predominance of Kadets and Octobrists in its administration) and its subservience to Germany, while socialists condemned its reactionary policies, particularly with regard to the repeal of land reform (although that was forced upon Skoropadskii by the Germans). Over the late summer of 1918, as it became increasingly obvious that the Central Powers would lose the world war, Skoropadskii began negotiations with the opposition, united in the Ukrainian National Union (UNU), offering them cabinet posts, guarantees of freedom of speech, and (in a manifesto of 22 October 1918) a pledge to uphold the independence of Ukraine and to summon a national parliament. On 24 October 1918, a new cabinet, representing a compromise between Ukrainian nationalist and pro-Russian forces, was created: Fedir Lyzohub, premier; Dmytro Doroshenko, foreign affairs; Aleksandr Rogoza, military affairs; V. Reinbot, internal affairs (acting); Antin Rzhepetsky, finance; Oleksander Lototsky (UNU), religious affairs; Petro Stebnytsky (UNU), education; Volodymyr M. Leontovych (UNU), agriculture; Sergei Gerbel′, food supply; Andrii Viazlov (UNU), justice; Maksym Slavinsky (UNU), labor; Sergei Mering, trade and industry; B. Butenko, communications; Vsevolod Liubynsky, health; S. Petrov, state controller; and S. Zavadskii, state secretary. However, when the Central Powers finally capitulated to the Allies, Skoropadskii changed tack and appointed a new cabinet on 14 November 1918 that was purged of UNU elements and packed with mostly Russian monarchists: premier and minister of agriculture, Sergei Gerbel′; external affairs, Iurii Afanasev; army, D. Shchutskii; navy, Andrii Pokrovskii; internal affairs, Ihor Kistiakovskii; education, Volodymyr Naumenko; religious affairs, Mykhailo Voronovych; finance, Antin Rzhepetskii; communication, V. Liandeberg; trade, Sergei Mering; justice, V. Reinbot; health, Vsevolod Liubynskii; labor, Volodymyr Kosynskii; food supply, G. Glinka; and state controller, S. Petrov. At the same time, Skoropadskii was further alienating Ukrainians by touting an alliance with the Volunteer Army. This only served to hasten the speed with which the regime was overthrown by the forces of the Ukrainian National Republic Directory, supported by the Sich Riflemen, on 14 December 1918, as the Central Powers withdrew from the region under the terms of the armistice of 11 November 1918.