This day in history

1654: Cossack Council held in Pereiaslav to decide whether to swear allegiance to the tsar of Muscovy.

1919: Ukraine’s interim workers and peasants’ [Kremlin-Communist-controlled] government adopts a decree on separation of the Church from the State, placing all drama and movie theaters under the jurisdiction of the Department of Education.

1942: Troops of the Soviet Southwest and South Fronts launch an offensive against the Wehrmacht, to go down in WW II history as Operation Barvinkove-Lozovets.

1944: Volyn witnesses the first serious clash between the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and NKVD troops.

1966: The Soviet Union’s largest paint factory is launched in Kotovsk (Odesa Oblast).

2003: President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine pays the first official visit to the Persian Gulf countries.