1920-1932:
Karl I (Habsburg-Lorraine)
1932-:
Vasyl I "the Embroidered" (Habsburg-Lorraine)
1920-1925:
Vyacheslav Lypynsky (National Hromada)
1920 (majority): Andriy Nikovsky (Federalist Socialist), Filip Pilipchuk (National Republican), Isaak Mazepa (Labor)
1924 (majority): Andriy Nikovsky (Democratic Union), Filip Pilipchuk (National Republican), Fyodor Krizhanivsky (Labor), Samiylo Pidhirsky (Zagrava)
1925:
Dmytro Doroshenko (National Hromada, backed by Democratic Union)
1925:
Ivan Poltavets-Ostryanitsa (National Hromada, backed by Free Cossacks)
1925-1933:
Serhiy Shelukhyn (National Hromada)
1926 (majority): Pavlo Zaitsev (Democratic Union), Pavlo Khrystiuk (Labor)
1930 (coalition): Serhiy Yefremov (Democratic Union ~ Left), Mykola Galagan (Labor), Pavlo Zaitsev (Democratic Union ~ Right), collective leadership (Independent Labor), Boris Butenko (Union of Free Cossacks)
1932-:
Mykhaylo Bilynsky (Labor)
1932 (majority): Adam Montrezor (National Hromada), Kostiantyn Matsievich (Democratic), Pavlo Zaitsev (Union of April 7), collective leadership (Left Labor), Boris Butenko (Union of Free Cossacks)
*only major parliamentary groups named
On August 30, 1918, at the Hammer and Sickle arms factory, a Socialist-Revolutionary named Fanny Kaplan shot Vladimir Lenin with a Browning pistol. From there, the Red movement unraveled, wedged between Trotsky and Tukhachevsky's Red Army and constantly rotating triumvirates in charge of the Soviets, and the Russian Civil War continued well into the twenties, even as the Great War had ended - with German soldiers in Paris - and the Kansas Epidemic had abated. As Whites and Reds fought over Petrograd and Tula, nations along the periphery chose to secede, settle things their own way. It just so happened that many of them had German arms backing them.
In this environment Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria, a Grand Admiral of the Imperial and Royal War Navy, took an opportunity few could afford. Having previously staked a claim to the Polish throne (and deterred by the Germans), Karl Stefan took to Ukraine with his youngest son Wilhelm, engaging in humanitarian work and defense against Bolshevik forces. This made him an enemy of Hetman Skoropadskyi, who felt threatened by his status as well as his growing popularity with the Ukrainian populace at large. Historians continue to argue whether the Hetman would move against the Archduke or not, as Skoropadskyi's assassination by a Makhnovite anarchist interrupted his rule. The vast majority of his supporters, including various Polish and Russian landholders and officers, ultimately coalesced around the figure of Karl Stefan, who by 1920 was effectively slated to become King of Ukraine.
Vyacheslav Lypynsky, the chief ideologue of Ukrainian conservatism, was the obvious first choice for Prime Minister, presiding over limited democratic elections and a Rada dominated by the National Hromada, steered the country through the early Twenties, establishing Ukraine as Mitteleuropa's main breadbasket and suppressing anarchist and socialist unrest, the likes of which were observed in Mexico, Italy and Argentina among others; more than that, Russia, now consolidated under the Pepelyayev brothers and a tenuous "Government of All the Talents", was wary of Ukraine and its relationship with Black Sea Cossacks at best. Militarization was in order.
With news of Red Army soldiers and Bolshevik operatives roaming the world, Ukraine experienced a vast Red Scare, culminating in the political crisis of July 1925; when Lypynsky was found dead in his bedroom, allegedly poisoned by a socialist assassin, the Hromada government instituted a wide-ranging curfew and rollback of democratic institutions. Further exacerbating the crisis were the competing claims of foreign affairs minister Doroshenko and military affairs minister Poltavets-Ostryanitsa, who saw themselves each as the legitimate acting head of government; the issue was only resolved with the appointment of Serhiy Shelukhyn, who rolled back the curfew and presided over the arrest of multiple left-wing "agitators".
The late 1920s-early 1930s were a difficult time for the Weltsystem: the Börse Berlin Crash sent reverberations through the global economy, while the violent Turkish Civil War humiliated Berlin: with Enver Pasha massacring his way to the Caspian, even the most loyal members of Mitteleuropa were lukewarm on helping the Sickest Monarchy of Europe, and volunteers were flooding from every corner to help liberate their nation of choice. This was particularly true of Ukraine, as Crimean Tatar emigrants returned to the homeland of their ancestors while Cossacks helped establish the Second Republic of Armenia from Goris to Erzurum - no matter how much Shelukhyn and the National Hromada, conscious of German support, tried to discourage them. The Hromada paid for it, losing their majority in the Rada for the first time in Ukrainian history as Cossack organizations no longer lent them their full support (though their political views were too disparate to allow them to become more than a coalition appendage). Left-wing parties expanded their share of the vote substantially.
1932 was a year of great change. Karl I passed away peacefully in the Mariyinsky Palace; he was, as expected, succeeded by his son Wilhelm (better known as
Vasyl Vyshyvani), a broadly popular figure among all classes and a hero of the nation. The Shelukhyn government was mildly fearful of him, as Vasyl, coronated at only 37 years old, was distinctly more left-leaning than his father (he wasn't called "the Red Prince" for nothing) and rather pushy about Galicia, particularly as the Austrian Empire was destabilized by the Great Depression and continued ethnic strife. Fears of unrest and military coup surrounded the 1932 elections, and - as former rear admiral Mikhaylo Bilynsky gave the Ukrainian Labor Party a landslide majority - rumors of a "business plot" became commonplace. However, Vasyl I gave his consent to the Bilynsky government, and Ukrainian democracy stood in place.
Two years into Prime Minister Bilynsky's tenure, Ukraine is on the upswing, being one of the more stable states in Europe while also rapidly unionizing and industrializing. However, relations with its neighbors - Poland and Russia primarily - are not so rosy, and the two issues posed by the Russian Civil War - the Galician Question and the Cossack Question - are yet to be solved.