Budjak
Budjak is a historic region in modern Ukraine. It fundamentally is the Ukrainian portion of Bessarabia, still north of the Danube but west of the Prut.
History
For most of history, Budjak was a component of Bessarabia. This region was contested between the Ottomans and Russians through the Russo-Turkish Wars. The portion east of the Prut was ceded to Russia in 1818; the remainder, which became known as Southern Bessarabia, was also ceded in 1829. Russia reorganized this land into the Bessarabia Governorate.
The remainder of the Moldavia and Wallachia were subject to Russian military occupation, though they remained an Ottoman vassal. The revolutions of 1848 were expressed here as Danubian nationalism, which the Ottomans and Russians jointly suppressed.
Southern Bessarabia was ceded back to the Ottomans following the Crimean War. It was included in the reformed vilayet of Danube and the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which soon was renamed to Romania.
Russia again seized the Black Sea coast in the Russo-Turkish War of 1878. Although the Treaty of Berlin confirmed the independence of Romania, it was compelled to cede Southern Bessarabia to Russia. As a consolation, Russia ceded Dobruja to Romania and Bulgaria.
Bessarabia for the most part became Moldova. Southern Bessarabia, now known as Budjak, was kept in Ukraine.