I believe that this is what Russia is carving out of Ukraine…

Novorussia.

Novorossiya, literal meaning “New Russia”, is a historic time period of the Russian Empire denoting a location north of the Black Sea that was conquered from the Crimean Khanate. It was an expansion of the Crimea. In Ukrainian, the province used to be acknowledged as the Stepovyna or Nyz. It was once shaped as a new province of a buffer zone of the main Russia in 1764 for protection from alternate army frontier areas alongside with components of the southern Hetmanate, developed fully with the instruction for combat with the Ottomans. It used to be in addition, elevated to an even higher status via the annexation of the Zaporozhian Sich in 1775…

Very important addition to Russia, even this day and age, for when you are at war with the west…

WtR