Empire, an agreement was made between Russia and the Zaporozhian cossacks, the Treaty of Lubny. The Zaporozhian Cossacks regained all of their former lands, privileges, laws and customs in exchange for serving under the command of a Russian Army stationed in Kiev. A new sich (Nova Sich) was built to replace the one that had been destroyed by Peter the Great. Concerned about the possibility of Russian interference in Zaporozhia's internal affairs, the Cossacks began to settle their lands with Ukrainian peasants fleeing serfdom in Poland and Russia proper. By 1762, 33,700 Cossacks and over 150,000 peasants populated Zaporozhia. By the late 18th century, much of the Cossack officer class in Ukraine was incorporated into the Russian nobility, but many of the rank and file Cossacks, including a substantial portion of the old Zaporozhians, were reduced to peasant status. They were able to maintain their freedom and continued to provide refuge for those fleeing serfdom in Russia and Poland, including followers of the Russian Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev, which aroused the anger of Russian Empress Catherine II. As a result, by 1775 the number of runaway serfs from the Hetmanate and Polish-ruled Ukraine to Zaporizhiya rose to 100,000. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774) annexed the Crimean Khanate into Russia, so the need for further southern frontier defence (which the Zaporozhians carried out) no longer existed. Colonisation of Novorossiya began; one of the colonies, located just next to the lands of the Zaporozhian Sich, was New Serbia. This escalated conflicts over land ownership with the Cossacks, which often turned violent. The end of the Zaporozhian Host (1775) The decision to disband the Sich was adopted at the court council of Catherine the Great on 7 May 1775. General Peter Tekeli received orders to occupy and liquidate the main Zaporozhian fortress, the Sich. The plan was kept secret and regiments returning from the Russo-Turkish war, in which Cossacks also participated, were mobilized for the operation. They included 31 regiments (65,000 men in total). The attack took place on May 15 and continued to June 8. The order was given by Grigory Potemkin, who had formally become an honorary Zaporozhian Cossack under the name of Hrytsko Nechesa a few years prior. Potemkin was given a direct order from Empress Catherine II, which she explained in her Decree of 8 August 1775: On June 5, 1775, General Tekeli's forces divided into five detachments and