Liquidation of the autonomy of the Cossack Hetmanate

In 1735–1739, during the Russo-Turkish War, Ukrainian lands were bloodless and suffered heavy human and material losses.

In 1763 in Hlukhiv the council of elders drafted a petition for the return of former liberties and the establishment of a noble parliament in the Hetmanate.

K. Razumovsky addressed Catherine II with a proposal to make the post of hetman hereditary in his family.

Power from the hetman passed back into the hands of the Little Russia Collegium, headed by Governor-General Rumyantsev.

These provinces, as well as the Smolensk region, must be led by easy means to make them Russify and stop watching wolves in the woods.

[5]The most secret instruction to Prince Alexander Vyazemsky Сборник Императорского Русского исторического общества.

"In 1781, the Hetmanate was divided into three governorates (provinces): Kyiv, Chernihiv and Novhorod-Siversk, which together formed the Little Russia Governor-General.