For their part, the Poles aimed to secure their independence, contain any resurgence of the Russian or German Empires, and reclaim areas in the east that had ethnic Polish populations as per the historical Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth borders that existed prior to the Partitions of Poland. An ambitious plan formulated by Polish head of state Józef Piłsudski aimed to create a wide "Intermarium" ("Międzymorze") federation of independent states to the west of Russia, of which Poland would be the leading member. Keeping Ukraine beyond Russian influence was essential to this plan, and Poland was already at war with Ukrainian forces over Eastern Galicia.