This week in history

December 21. 1944. The Council to Assist the Western Oblasts was founded as a part of the government of Ukrainian SSR.

1991. A declaration of CIS member states was ratified in Almaty.

December 22. 1917. Soviet power was established in Kharkiv.

1972. The Bila Tserkva Tire and General Mechanical Rubber Goods Plant was put into operation.

December 23. 1873. The Taras Shevchenko Literature Society (since 1892 — Taras Shevchenko Scientific Society) was founded in Lviv.

1970. By putting into operation the new Melitopol-Simferopol electrified section, the electrification of the Leningrad-Moscow-Crimea Railroad was completed.

December 24. 1941. The OUN Kyiv branch started its underground fight against the Nazis.

1982. The An-124 transport plane made its maiden flight in Kyiv.

December 25. 1941. The Kerch-Feodosiya troops landing operation started, which resulted in liberating the Kerch peninsula from enemy troops.

1992. The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine registered the Memorial Society to Protect Human Rights.

December 26. 1947. A KP(b)U Central Committee plenum discharged Lazar Kaganovich and elected Nikita Khrushchev its first secretary.

1991. The First Judges’ Congress of Ukraine began in Kyiv.

December 27. 1934. The Politburo of VKP(b) Central Committee approved a decision to deport 2000 “anti-Soviet” families from Ukraine’s border territories.

\ 1996. Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a bill, On Privatizing the Property of State Enterprises.