This week in history

March 20 1669: The Cossack Council of Officers resolves to recognize Right-Bank Ukraine as a Turkish protectorate.

1944: Soviet troops force the Germans to retreat from Vinnytsia.

March 21 1927: The first issue of the newspaper Literaturna hazeta (known as Literaturna Ukraina since 1962) comes off the presses.

1982: President Ronald Reagan signs a proclamation instituting Ukrainian Helsinki Group Day, the first US presidential act focused exclusively on Ukraine.

March 22 1978: The Information Bulletin of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group starts publication.

1994: The Banknote Factory of the National Bank of Ukraine (Ukrainian Currency Factory) opens in Kyiv.

March 23 1993: Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice registers the all-Ukrainian political association Derzhavna samostiinist Ukrainy (State Independence of Ukraine)

1994: Ukraine and the European Union sign a partnership and cooperation agreement in Brussels.

March 24 1935: A monument to Taras Shevchenko, designed by sculptor Matvii Manizer, is unveiled in Kharkiv.

1980: The Synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Church convenes in Rome, where Metropolitan Myroslav Liubachivsky is elected as Metropolitan Josyf Cardinal Slipyj’s successor.

March 25 1993: The Ukrainian National Interpol Bureau is established.

1994: Ukraine and Russia sign a 10-year cultural cooperation agreement.

March 26 1919: The Supreme Council of National Economy of the RSFSR and the Council of National Economy of the Ukrainian SSR sign an agreement about conducting a uniform economic policy.

1944. Troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front launch the Odesa Offensive, as a result of which Mykolaiv and Odesa oblasts, and a large part of Moldova, are liberated.