Middle Steppe

The remaining areas of South-East, roughly Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhya, Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts a lot more mixed and has more Ukrainian influences than the rest of South-East.

Russian Empire era settlers shared this area with Cossacks who remained as well as settlers from other parts of Ukraine who used security provided by the Empire to settle the fertile steppes. Unlike other types of settlers, they prioritized proximity to core Ukraine. Because of them Ukraine proper gradually diffuses into South-East and there is no clear boundary between two.

Then in Soviet era some cities such as Dnipro, Zaporizhya, Melitopol and Nikopol were made into engineering powerhouses (naukagrad-s), where many universities educated people were designing aircraft engines and other high-tech stuff.

Nowadays this area consists of mostly Ukrainianized small towns and countryside. However at the same time, like sore thumbs, mostly Russophone big cities stand tall surrounded by the country some of them struggle to understand. A country that literary speaks a different language.

However, they are a lot more connected and integrated with the rest of Ukraine than more outlying areas.

Unlike Odessa these cities are not even coastal, so their independence is completely impossible.

Reorganisation

First of all, all large cities in the area should be given as special city status. Similar to what I proposed for Odessa. In addition to above-mentioned nauka-grad-s, industrial Kryvyi Rih and maybe also Pavlohrad should get it as well. Those that are close together geographically, like Kamanskie and Dnipro should be united into one Greater Dnipro City Area.

Then more rural steppe should be reorganized around smaller towns, or cities connected to agricultural industry.

It should not be the kind of federalism like Russia proposes that will give them veto over national affairs, but rather the kind of proper local government that can focus on local issues without pulling the blanket with other areas of the country for control over the limited oblast resources.

That way each of these areas can have a proper governance that looks after the interests of the area.