 From December 1918 until January 1919 he was assigned to undertake negotiations with French forces occupying Odessa on behalf of the Directorate of Ukraine.After a conflict with Petliura and leftist Ukrainian politicians, he was forced to resign his post and on 16 May 1919 assumed command of the Ukrainian Galician Army offered to him by Yevhen Petrushevych.The Galician army faced against the better equipped the Heller's Army was pushed from Lviv all the way to Husyatyn at Zbruch river.