Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

The last plenary session of the directory took place on 15 November 1919, during which Petliura became head of state. The following day, Kamenets-Podol′skii was captured by Polish forces. After an aborted attempt at continuing the struggle through partisan warfare, on 5 December 1919 Petliura went to Warsaw to negotiate the internment of his forces by the Poles. Subsequently, on 21–24 April 1920, he signed the Treaty of Warsaw with Poland, recognizing the incorporation of Western Ukraine (Eastern Galicia) into Poland. The directory’s forces then assisted the Poles in the capture of Kiev, on 7 May 1920, as the long-rumbling Soviet–Polish War moved into its most active phase. When, however, as part of the Treaty of Riga (18 March 1921) that ended the war, Poland signed a separate agreement with and recognized the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the directory’s hopes were dashed. Nevertheless, it continued to exist in exile until 1992, when its powers were transferred formally to the president of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk.

UKRAINIAN NATIONAL REPUBLIC, GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE. The General Secretariat was the chief executive organ of Ukraine (and subsequently the Ukrainian National Republic) from 28 June 1917 to 12 January 1918. During that time it held 63 meetings, at which were debated some 430 issues, chiefly of a political, economic, military, and diplomatic character. It was elected and authorized to act by the Ukrainian Central Rada. The Russian Provisional Government subsequently recognized the General Secretariat, although it insisted on greater representation in it of non-Ukrainian peoples (particularly, Russians, Poles, and Jews); demanded the right to appoint the secretaries itself; refused the Secretariat jurisdiction over certain areas (including foreign affairs, the army, food, legal affairs and transport); and limited the scope of its governance to Volhyn, Podilia, Poltava, and Kiev gubernii and the southern districts of Chernigov guberniia. (The General Secretariat claimed jurisdiction over these provinces plus Kherson, Tauride, Ekaterinoslav, and Bessarabia gubernii.) These issues remained unresolved by the time of the October Revolution. Following the Fourth Universal of the Ukrainian Central Rada and the declaration of Ukrainian independence on 9 January 1918, the General Secretariat was superseded by the Council of National Ministers of the Ukrainian National Republic.

UKRAINIAN NATIONAL-STATE UNION. This umbrella organization of center and center-right political parties (including the Ukrainian Democratic Agrarian Party, the Ukrainian Party of Independents-Socialists, and the Ukrainian Party of Socialists-Federalists) and professional unions was active at Kiev from May to July 1918. Its primary aim was to defend Ukrainian independence against any threat of the restoration of Russian authority. Consequently, on 24 May 1918 it submitted a statement to Hetman P. P. Skoropadskii that was critical of the dominant position in his government of representatives of Russian political parties (Kadets, Octobrists, etc.). The union also attacked the regime’s dissolution of the zemstvos and its restoration of prerevolutionary institutions of local government. However, Skoropadskii ignored all appeals from the union, which reorganized itself as the Ukrainian National Union in July–August 1918.