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Separatists in eastern Ukraine claimed Tuesday to have founded a new country Malorossiya, which means Little Russia in English that they hope will eventually overtake Ukraine.

We offer Ukrainian citizens a peaceful way out of the difficult situation, without the war, Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, told reporters during a surprise announcement. This is our last offer not only to the Ukrainians, but also to all countries that supported the civil war in Donbass.

The move seems to undermine the falteringMinsk peace agreement, a 2015 deal reached between Russian-backed rebels and the government in Kiev that sought to end the violence in Ukraine's industrial east. News of the Malorossiya proposal quickly drew condemnation from the international community, with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko calling theDonetsk People's Republic apuppet show that broadcasts messages from Russia.

Notably, both Russia and other separatist movements in eastern Ukraine also distanced themselves from the move, with the self-proclaimedLuhansk People's Republic saying it wasnot notified ahead of time about the announcement and that discussions about the project were untimely.

Despite this, the proclamation of Malorossiya was dubbed a historic event by the Donetsk People's Republic. In a map released by the separatists, all of Ukraine was portrayed as part ofMalorossiya with the sole exception of Crimea, thepeninsula annexed by Russia in March 2014. Kiev would remain a historical and cultural center without the capital city status in the new state, according to the separatists' statement Tuesday, but Donetsk would be the new political center of Malorossiya.

TheDonetsk People's Republic also released a flag, which it said was based on that of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, a 17th-century Ukrainian Cossack leader who organized a rebellion against Polish rule and transferred Ukrainian lands to Russian control.

The rhetoric behind Malorossiyadraws on the complicated history of Ukraine. Much of what now makes up the country was once part of the Russian Empire and later theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, a part of the Moscow-dominated Soviet Union, until it gainedindependence in 1991.

Many people in eastern Ukraine are ethnically Russian and speak the Russian language. Many Russians also hail their own historical links to Ukrainian land and the Kievan Rus, an East Slavic state that peaked in the 11th century and was centered uponwhat is now the Ukrainian capital.

As tensions flared between Kiev and Russian-backed rebels in 2014, separatists beganto talk about the concept of Novorossiya a concept that means new Russia in English. The name referred to what is now the east of Ukraine lands that were taken from the Ottoman Empire by the Russian Empire in the late 18th century. RussianPresident Vladimir Putin referredto the historical concept during a December 2014 question-and-answer session.

However, Malorossiya is different fromNovorossiya. The word is thoughtto date back as far as the medieval era, but came intowidespread use under the Russian Empire in the 19th century when it was used to describe the land that now makes up Ukraine. The term has long been considered archaic in Ukraine itself; some nationalists use it disparagingly, and it issometimes used as an insult to describe Russified Ukrainians in the country's east.

Importantly, the word is usedto refer to almost of all of Ukraine rather than the eastern provinces that made upNovorossiya implying increased ambitions for theDonetsk People's Republic.Zakhar Prilepin, a Russian writer who formed a volunteer battalion for theDonetsk People's Republic, told the Komsomolskaya Pravdanewspaper that the ultimate aim ofMalorossiya was to merge with both Russia and Belarus.

Despite these lofty ideals, there were signs that the announcement of Malorossiya was rushed. The statement announcing the proposed country referred to "19 regions of the former Ukraine an apparent error as Ukraine has 24 administrative regions and the Malorossiya map showed all these regionsaccurately. Documents claiming to mark the official establishment of the country were riddled with red squiggly lines, suggesting that they were images taken hastily from word-processing software.

More strikingly, although the news was covered exhaustively by Russian state media Tuesday, Moscow said it did not support Zakharchenko's calls for Malorossiya, and there was little sign of backing from other separatists.

Kremlinpress secretary Dmitry Peskov distanced Russia from Malorossiya, telling reporters that the proposed country was a personal initiative ofZakharchenko. Moscow learned about it from the press, Peskov said. Boris Gryzlov, Russia's envoy for the Minsk talks, also Russian told journalists that the proposal was likely related to informational warfare and is not a subject of real politics.

Althoughthere seems little prospect ofMalorossiya becoming a recognized country anytime soon, Tuesday's announcement highlights that little progress has been made in finding a solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine since the Minsk agreement came into force in 2015.AndZakharchenko seemed undeterred by the low feasibility ofhis plan.

I am convinced that we will do everything possible and impossible, Zakharchenko told reporters Tuesday.

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Ukrainian separatists claim to have created a new country: Malorossiya, or 'Little Russia' - Washington Post