Borderland. That fitting phrase. Ukraine was in the center of intersecting cultures. The Vikings settled from the north, to conquer. The Venetians and Greeks from the South, to trade. The Mongols from the East, to conquer. The Europeans from the West, to farm.
The Ottoman Empire provided some political stability, but it was Russia that truly wanted the prize as a gateway to the Black Sea. Peter the Great made inroads but could not hold the territories. Finally Catherine the Great, after several successful wars against the Ottomans, formed the newly aquired lands into a Russian state called Novorussiia (New Russia). The Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji, signed in 1774, gave Russia the coastal lands between the Bug and Dnieper rivers. Soon after, the cities of Kherson, Mariiupil and Mykolaiv were established. Conditions were set for Russia to establish new trade routes out of her southern border. The only thing still missing was an efficient port with favorable land routes and a deep harbor. That was accomplished in 1794 with the founding of Odessa. A Dutch engineer (Franz de Voland) recommended the site and Catherine II provided her approval on May 27, 1794. Work on the harbor and the city began immediately and the city began to grow.
The steppe regions north of the Black Sea coast are the areas of most interest to me. Unsettled, rich and fertile, now with access to a deep harbor for export of agricultural products, Russia's rulers had the foresight to know that the lands needed to be settled quickly or someday be lost again.
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