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On November 20, 1917, the Rada announced the formation of the Ukrainian National Republic. They paid lip-service, once more, to federalism, but refused to accept the legitimacy of the Bolshevik regime. Its principles were democratic and included the abolition of capital punishment, the right to strike and amnesty for all political prisoners. Their main support came from the rural population and land reform was one of their main promises. Semyon Petlyura became Secretary for Military Affairs, soon resigning after an argument over general policy. Various revolutionary groups, including Social Revolutionaries, Bolsheviks and Anarchists, continued to agitate against the Rada.

The Ukrainian army at this time was primarily made up of ‘Free Cossack’ volunteer units. The most important of these units was the two-battalion Haidamats’kyi Kish Slobids’koi Ukrainy, which Petlyura led under the title of ‘Ataman’ (a word originally meaning an elected Cossack leader). Also important as a fighting force was the Galician Battalion of Sichovi Strel’tsi (Sich Riflemen) formed from West Ukrainian prisoners formerly in the Austrian army. The Entente forces tried to recruit the aid of the Ukrainians but could offer no real support since Turkey still controlled the Black Sea and the Bolsheviks controlled Murmansk. An armed left-wing uprising in Kiev in December 1917 was put down and the First Ukrainian Corps, under General Paul Skoropadskya, with the aid of some Free Cossacks, defeated the Bolshevik-led Second Guard Corps near Zhmerynka. Open war between Bolshevik Russia and the Ukraine began in late December (the Bolsheviks claiming to be lending support to the ‘official Ukrainian Soviet government’ which existed in Kharkov, maintained by Bolshevik troops). The real Bolshevik invasion began on December 25. In charge of it was the able Red Army leader Antonov. The Bolsheviks were extremely successful in the face of the somewhat disorganised Ukrainian defence and took many key cities. Under Muraviev, Bolshevik troops attacked Kiev. The 3,000 defending Ukrainian troops evacuated the city. Muraviev occupied Kiev and ordered mass executions of the Ukrainian (‘nationalist’) population. The Red Cross estimated that some 5,000 people were killed in Kiev during this period. Elsewhere in the Ukraine a similar ‘terror’ was implemented.