The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 marked a pivotal moment for the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), offering international recognition but exposing the fragility of its territorial claims. While the treaty forced Soviet Russia to recognize Ukrainian independence, the reality on the ground proved far more complex, with multiple competing powers challenging the UPR's authority.
The UPR's territorial ambitions encompassed vast regions, including ethnic Ukrainian lands stretching from Galicia to the Kuban. However, these claims immediately faced resistance from Soviet Russia, which viewed Ukraine as essential to its revolutionary project. The Bolsheviks had already established rival Soviet republics within Ukrainian territory, directly challenging the UPR's legitimacy. The Odessa Soviet Republic, proclaimed in January 1918, controlled the vital Black Sea port until March, when German forces supporting the UPR captured the city. Similarly, the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic, established in February 1918 in Ukraine's industrial heartland, rejected subordination to the UPR, claiming to represent the region's predominantly Russian working class. This republic lasted only until April, when German and UPR forces dissolved it, though Soviet influence remained strong in the eastern territories.
The Crimean Peninsula presented another challenge through the Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic, established in March 1918. This short-lived entity, lasting barely a month, represented Bolshevik attempts to maintain control over strategically crucial territories along the Black Sea coast. German intervention ultimately dismantled these Soviet republics, but their existence demonstrated the UPR's inability to assert authority independently.
Relations with the Kuban People's Republic, existing from January 1918 to March 1920, remained ambiguous. The UPR claimed the heavily Ukrainian-populated Kuban region, but the republic maintained its independence, caught between Ukrainian aspirations, White Russian forces, and Bolshevik pressure. Cultural and ethnic ties existed, yet political unity proved elusive.
The UPR's western borders became equally contested. Poland, reconstituting itself after 123 years of partition, claimed Eastern Galicia and Volhynia, regions with mixed Polish-Ukrainian populations. These competing claims would soon erupt into the Polish-Ukrainian War. Meanwhile, after the union of Bessarabia (Moldavian Democratic Republic) with Romania in early 1918, the Kingdom of Romania incorporated some Bessarabian territories the UPR considered Ukrainian.
By mid-1918, despite Brest-Litovsk's formal recognition, the Ukrainian People's Republic remained surrounded by hostile powers, its territorial integrity dependent on German military support rather than genuine sovereignty. This precarious situation foreshadowed the republic's eventual collapse and Ukraine's absorption into the Soviet Union by 1921, demonstrating how international recognition alone could not secure national independence without military capacity and diplomatic stability.
