(Not to be confused with Kiev Governorate or Kiev Governorate General.) Kiev Governorate (pre-reform Russian: Кіевская губернія, Ukrainian: Київська губернія), or the Government of Kiev, was an administrative division (a guberniya) of the Tsardom of Russia and then the Russian Empire. The government was established in December 1708 as one of the eight guberniyas first created during the reforms of Peter the Great.