Ukranian Separatism in the Russic Empire

Ukranians made up the single largest block of non russians in the empire, just about 30 million people. The germans hoped to turn a nominally independent ukraine into a german client state. While the country side was almost universally ukranian, the cities and larger towns were very much more ethnically mixed. And for all the talk of autonomy and self determination, both the russians and germans saw n as a vital part of their post war economies.