29 DECEMBER 1917, Page 1

There is no trustworthy news as to the progress of

the civil war in Southern Russia. But the Ukraine Government have declared against the Anarehiste of Petrograd, and have taken over the Staffs

of the Fourth, Eighth, and Eleventh Russian Armies. General Shcherbacheff has assumed command of the troops on the South- Western and Rumanian fronts, covering the vast Ukraine territory. A combination between the Ukraine and the Don Cossacks should be able to defy the Anarchists of the North and to restore order, at any rate in the region between Kieff and Odessa. There is a gleam of hope for gallant little Rumania in this new development.