In commemoration of the Battle of Lityn

In the history of Ukrainian national liberation struggle in the early 20th century, in particular in Vinnytsia oblast, there are still many unexplored pages that remain unknown to the public. One of them is a battle in the town of Lityn on March 19, 1919, in which 700 volunteer soldiers of the Black Sea Kish perished in an unequal battle defending the Ukrainian People’s Republic against Bolshevik cavalry. Most of them were poorly armed 18-21-year-old recruits from Berdychiv and Lityn counties.

Today in the old cemetery in Ustym Karmeliuk Street there is a mass grave of the warriors on which, according to an old Cossack tradition, a mound is erected. A cross is set up and a memorial plaque is installed there. It is at this place, which is sacred for every Ukrainian, that the commemorating ceremonies for the heroes of the Battle of Lityn were held with the participation of the Cossacks and officers of the Ivan Bohun Vinnytsia Cossack regiment, members of Vinnytsia Cossack youth union “Young Podillia Sich,” members of the Native Orthodox Faith “The Crown of God” and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate), representatives of the local authorities and the public, and school and university students. The mourning ceremony was held and flowers were laid at the grave of the young UNR warriors. Ivan Dekhtiar, a Cossack lieutenant of the Ya. Halchevsky Lityn Cossack Company and a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate), and priest Velemyr of “The Crown of God” mourned for the Black Sea Kish heroes. An old Cossack cannon was fired in commemoration of them. In the building of the local arts center for children and youth a cultural-artistic soiree was held with the participation of high-school students to mark the 91th anniversary of the Battle of Lityn.