General Secretariat of Ukraine

In course of the next round of negotiations now in Petrograd the Ukrainian delegation was requesting the acceptance of the General Secretariat Statute by the Russian Provisional Government, which was approved by the Central Rada and proclaimed as the first Constitution.

According to the Instruction, the General Secretariat had limited powers, but was acknowledged as the highest institution of the Provisional Government in Ukraine and authority of which stretched upon five gubernias Volyn, Podillia, Poltava, Kiev, and partially Chernihiv.

After some negotiations the Tsentralna Rada yielded to the request on August 7, followed by the resignation of Volodymyr Vynnychenko as a sign of protest and pressure from the Ukrainian Socialist Revolutionary Party.

Dmytro Doroshenko (UPSF), a former head commissioner of the Provisional Government of Galicia and Bucovina, was offered to create a new Secretariat.

In October 1917, the Russian Provisional Government stopped the transfer of funds to the General Secretariat and expressed its intentions to file a claim against its members for separatism and the participation in the All-Ukrainian Constituent Assembly.

On October 21 at the meeting of the Secretariat was reviewed the issue of sending delegation to Petrograd headed by Vynnychenko together with Steshenko and Zarubin for the negotiations with the Provisional Government in reference to the political situation in Ukraine.

The General Secretariat was allowed to move to "Savvoi" sometime in late September 1917, however that place was decided to be a temporary due to the physical conditions of the building.

The General Secretariat was finally able to move to the former Palace of Governor-General in Kiev at 40 vulytsia Instytutska (Institute Street) in January 1918, while the hotel "Savvoi" after being restored was also secured after the Ukrainian government.