headed by the Ukrainian-born Leon Trotsky. Several resolutions were made from 22 to 26 December, and on 28 December 1917, an armistice was signed suspending hostilities at the front lines. A Soviet government of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic had been formed in Kharkiv on 17 December 1917. The final signing was being delayed by the Bolsheviks in the hope of reaching some agreement with the Entente treaty members. On 12 January 1918, Count Ottokar Czernin, representing the Central Powers, recognised the independent delegation from the Ukrainian People's Republic but with Csáky refused to discuss the questions of Halychyna, Bucovina, and Subcarpathian Rus. They agreed that the Kholm Governorate and the region of Podlachia were part of the Ukrainian People's Republic. The Russian delegation, headed by Leon Trotsky, had at first also recognised the independent Ukrainian delegation on January 10. On 20 January 1918, the Ukrainian delegation returned to Kiev, where the Tsentralna Rada proclaimed a fully-sovereign Ukrainian state on January 25 (dated January 22). Soon, a new Ukrainian delegation was sent to Brest headed by Oleksandr Sevriuk. Meanwhile, Bolshevik revolts occurred in several cities in Ukraine, which more or less forced the Ukrainian People's Republic, which was lacking organised military forces, to seek foreign aid. However, the situation for the Central Powers was also critical, especially for Austria-Hungary, which suffered severe food shortages. On 1 February, a plenary session of the Congress was attended also by the Soviet government of Ukraine in the presence of Yukhym Medvediev and Vasyl' Shakhrai, but the Central Powers continued to negotiate with the delegation from the Ukrainian People's Republic as the sole representatives of Ukraine. While the Tsentralna Rada abandoned Kiev for Bolshevik troops, a peace treaty was signed in Brest-Litovsk during the night of February 8–9 over the Bolsheviks' protests. A special edition (Extrablatt) of the German newspaper Lübeckische Anzeigen printed an announcement on "Peace with the Ukraine": "Today on 9 February 1918 at 2 o'clock in the morning the Peace between the Quadruple Alliance and the Ukrainian People's Republic was signed". Signatories Within days of the treaty's signing, an army of over 450,000 men from the Central Powers entered Ukraine, and after only a month, most of the Bolshevik troops had left the country without any significant resistance. Soon after the takeover of Kiev by Ukrainian and German troops, the Tsentralna Rada could return to Kiev on March 2. Terms The