Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets in the context of "Ukrainian Soviet Republic"

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. Under the Soviet one-party model, the Ukrainian SSR was governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union through its republican branch, the Communist Party of Ukraine.

The first iterations of the Ukrainian SSR were established during the Russian Revolution, particularly after the Bolshevik Revolution. The outbreak of the Ukrainian–Soviet War in the former Russian Empire saw the Bolsheviks defeat the independent Ukrainian People's Republic, during the conflict against which they founded the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets, which was governed by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), in December 1917; it was later succeeded by the Ukrainian Soviet Republic in 1918. Simultaneously with the Russian Civil War, the Ukrainian War of Independence was being fought among the different Ukrainian republics founded by Ukrainian nationalists, Ukrainian anarchists, and Ukrainian separatists – primarily against Soviet Russia and the Ukrainian SSR, with either help or opposition from neighbouring states. In 1922, it was one of four Soviet republics (with the Russian SFSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Transcaucasian SFSR) that signed the Treaty on the Creation of the Soviet Union. As a Soviet quasi-state, the Ukrainian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations in 1945 alongside the Byelorussian SSR, in spite of the fact that they were also legally represented by the Soviet Union in foreign affairs. Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Ukrainian SSR emerged as the present-day independent state of Ukraine, although the modified Soviet-era constitution remained in use until the adoption of the modern Ukrainian constitution in June 1996.

The Central Rada of Ukraine, also called the Central Council (Ukrainian: Українська Центральна Рада, romanized: Ukrainska Tsentralna Rada), was the All-Ukrainian council that united deputies of soldiers, workers, and peasants deputies as well as few members of political, public, cultural and professional organizations of the Ukrainian People's Republic. After the All-Ukrainian National Congress (19–21 April 1917), the Council became the revolutionary parliament in the interbellum lasting until the Ukrainian-Soviet War. Unlike with many other councils in the Russian Republic, Bolshevization of the Rada failed completely, prompting the Ukrainian Bolsheviks to form a rival government in Kharkov.

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.