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Earlier today I was reading a short paper entitled The German Occupation of the Ukraine in 1918: A Documentary Account by Xenia Eudin about the development of an independent Ukraine in 1917, the interactions between the Central Rada and Germany, the German coup d’etat and installing the puppet Skoropadsky as Hetman, and the eventual anarchy and collapse to the Reds in 1918-1919. The paper includes some interesting personal accounts like the German coup against the Ukrainian Rada:

The members of the... Rada met [on April 28] in the same exciting atmosphere as on the day before. . . . The session was devoted entirely to the discussion of General von Eichhorn's order.. . . M. G. Rafes . . . read the official declaration by the German command forbidding May celebrations with- out special permission. The speaker found in this fact a definite intention [on the part of the Germans] to humiliate the Ukrainian government .... The tragedy of the Ukrainian people was great but it was no different from the tragedy of other small nations when they attempted to take the path of inde- pendence. The speaker's words were cut short . . . at 3.45 p.m., when a German lieutenant with a detachment of heavily armed soldiers wearing helmets entered the Rada meeting.
"In the name of the German government," the lieutenant said in Russian, "handsup! Do not move!" Excitement swept through the audience and every- one jumped up. Armed German soldiers poured through the open door.... "Hands up, hands up," again shouted the lieutenant, who was now joined by several German officers, some of whom spoke Russian. The members of the Rada, the representativesof the press, and the public submissivelyput up their hands.... The chairman alone, M. S. Hrushevsky,remained in his seat and did not lift his hands. He was outwardly calm, but the flushed spots on his cheeks showed his inner turmoil. The soldiers who had spread out over the hall kept their revolvers leveled at the crowd of people who stood motionless with up- raised hands. Revolvers were also directed at Professor M. S. Hrushevsky. "I protest with all my power against the entrance of soldiers in the building of the Rada," said Professor Hrushevsky in Ukrainian. "Who are you?" cut in the lieutenant. "I am Hrushevsky, the chairman of the Central Rada."-"Oh, Hrushevsky,"said the lieutenant, "right now I am the only one who will do any talking around here.... Where is the Minister of War, Zhukovsky? Where is the Minister of the Interior, Tkachenko?" he shouted. "Where is the Minister Kovalevsky? Where is the director of the administrative-political department, Gaevsky?" Silence followed. Neither Tkachenko, nor Zhukovsky, nor Kova- levsky was in the hall. "Here I am," the director of the administrative-political department, Iu. I. Gaevsky, said suddenly. Upon an order from the lieutenant, Gaevsky was surrounded by a group of soldiers, arrested, and escorted from the hall ....
Everybody still stood in increasing discomfort, their hands high. The com- mander of the detachment looked everywhere for Tkachenko, Zhukovsky, and Kovalevsky, trying to get their home addresses from Professor Hrushevsky and other deputies who would not give the information.
"Where does Tkachenko live?" the lieutenant asked M. V. Porsh.
"I do not know," answered Porsh with his hands in the air, a copy of the Neue Freie Presse in one and his passport in the other.
"And now," shouted the lieutenant in Russian, "all those who have firearms
put them on the table. Anyone failing to do this will be severely punished. We shall search everyone."
"I protest most categorically against any searches being conducted in the building of the parliament," said M. S. Hrushevsky.
"Every person who does not surrenderhis arms will be immediately shot," the other lieutenant said in German.
One of the representatives of the press turned to the first lieutenant: "You do not translate correctly. Your colleague is threatening to shoot us, and you speak in Russian only of severe punishment."
"Never mind," said the first lieutenant calmly, "we will make shooting the
punishment."
Again the order for the surrender of arms was given. "Hands down," or-
dered the second lieutenant in German. Everyone put down his hands. Several people walked to the table and placed their revolvers on it in front of M. S. Hrushevsky,who still sat there....
The names of the Rada members were taken down, and each was marched into another room next to the hall where soon all of them were gathered. [In the end one member after another was permitted to leave, and even M. S. Hrushevsky was finally released. The German guard was removed.] ....
The doors of the building were opened again. Members of the Rada passed
in freely ... and gathered in groups excitedly discussing what had happened. "Are we dispersed or aren't we?" the delegates kept asking each other. And to this question no one seemed to be able to give a definite answer.”


Later, it discusses the formation of the Bolshevik backed Ukrainian Peasants Congress and its aim to: “reject with contempt the Hetman's self-styled authority, which was created by the nobles, large estate owners, village kulaks, and capitalists, and which has no support or recognition from the democratic groups of the Ukraine, and to call the peasants to a decisive, uncompromising armed struggle against the Hetman's regime ....”

It then goes on to list the breaking out of rebellion and peasants revolts, the land strikes and inability for Germans to secure the harvest without military force, the assassination of the German Commander in Ukraine, Von Eichhorn, etc. The paper concludes with the following:

Von Eichhorn's death did not, of course, end the occupation, which came only after the defeat of Germany in the west, but the intervening months were months of continuous discontent and opposition. Soviet Russia was officially at peace with Germany, yet beneath the façade of diplomacy, Imperial Germany endeavored to establish her power on a firm basis by creating a series of states stretching from Finland to the Caucasus, with the intention of isolating Soviet Russia from Europe. The Russian Bolsheviks, in turn, did what they could to incite the Ukrainians against the Germans and to persuade the soldiers of occupation to revolt against their leaders. Ultimately, these tactics bore fruit, but only after the morale of the home front and the troops of the Central Powers had been broken by failure to win a final victory in the west.”

After reading all this, the question I am wondering is this: was it possible for the Germans to hold on to the Ukraine if they won the Great War in early to mid 1919 (let’s use the standard Kaiserreich PoD of Germany lifting unrestricted submarine warfare and let’s assume the Soviets beat the White Armies)?
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