SUMMARY:

This article reexamines the 1917 Ukrainian autonomy agreement as a complex tripartite negotiation involving the Russian Provisional Government, the Ukrainian Central Rada, and local non-Ukrainian municipal bodies. Moving beyond a simple binary interaction between the agglomerated “Ukrainians” and “Russians,” the author compares this settlement to the Habsburg “Ausgleich” (compromise), where the imperial center brokered power-sharing deals to manage ethnic tensions. Local Kyivan elites across various nationalities sought to secure fair representation within a shifting regional hierarchy that eventually positioned Ukrainians as the dominant majority and others as official minorities. By institutionalizing these national categories, the agreement signaled a pivotal transformation of the Russian state into a structured multinational empire. Ultimately, the article highlights how mass politics and wartime administrative shifts necessitated a collaborative, though hierarchical, regional administration to prevent social collapse.