Kholm Governorate (Ukraine) in the context of "Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Ukraine–Central Powers)"

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, also known as the Bread Peace (German: Brotfrieden) or Peace of Brest (Ukrainian: Берестейський мир, romanized: Beresteiskyi myr, "Berestian Peace"), was signed on 9 February 1918 between the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria). It ended Ukraine's involvement in World War I and saw the Central Powers recognise the UPR's sovereignty. The treaty, which followed the armistice on the Eastern Front in December 1917, was signed at Brest-Litovsk (now Brest, Belarus). The Bread Peace fixed the Austro-Hungarian–Ukrainian border on the line of 1914 and made provision for a joint commission to determine the border with Poland. The Central Powers secured grain and other goods from the UPR in return for providing military assistance against the Bolsheviks.

While various negotiators at Brest-Litovsk were seeking to establish a general peace, the Austro-Hungarian delegation was in desperate need of getting access to Ukrainian foodstuffs to address a disastrous famine unfolding amongst its military and civilian population, choosing to sign a separate peace first with the Ukrainian People's Republic delegation, sent from the Central Rada in Kiev (modern Kyiv). The peace delegation from Soviet Russia, led by Leon Trotsky, did not recognise the UPR delegation, instead recognising a delegation from the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets based in Kharkov (modern Kharkiv). Polish representatives from Congress Poland and Austrian Galicia also objected to several terms in the treaty (particularly the concession of Kholm Governorate to Ukraine), and the fact that the Central Powers chose to conclude a separate peace with Ukraine rather than working out a general peace treaty. As a result, negotiations between the other parties broke down on 10 February, and it would take until 3 March 1918 until the Central Powers and Soviet Russia concluded their own separate Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The fact that Austria-Hungary justified recognising Ukrainian independence on the basis of national self-determination also had the unintended consequence of stimulating nationalist separatism amongst the ethnic minorities within its own borders, speeding up the dissolution of Austria-Hungary within the following nine months.