This week in history

March 16. 1917. The first legal meeting of the Kharkiv Bolsheviks took place, with sixty party members taking part.

March 17. 1917. The Ukrainian Central Rada was created in Kyiv.

1992. The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine registered the Ukrainian Cossacks.

March 18. 1913. The Ukrainian Sichovi Striltsi military organization was created in Lviv based on the Sich and Sokoly [Falcons] young men’s organizations.

1917. The first Ukrainian gymnasium was opened in Kyiv with renowned Ukrainian pedagogue P. Kholodny as its director.

March 19. 1917. By the initiative of the Central Rada the first Ukrainian Holiday of Freedom was held, electing the first Ukrainian Viche.

1996. The first oil products auction took place in the Ukrainian Agrarian Exchange.

March 20. 1944. In the course of the Proskurivka-Chernivtsy operation the Soviet troops of the First Ukrainian Front took Vinnytsia and forced a crossing of the South Buh.

1992. The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Armenia signed a Protocol on Cooperation in Kyiv.

March 21. 1927. The first issue of the Literaturna hazeta [Literary Gazette] (Literaturna Ukrayina [Literary Ukraine] since 1962) was published.

1982. US President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation On the Day of Ukrainian Helsinki Group, the first US presidential act dealing exclusively with Ukraine.

March 22. 1978. The Ukrainian Helsinki Group Information Bulletin began underground publication.

1994. The Banknote Factory of the National Bank of Ukraine (Ukrainian Money Factory) was opened in Kyiv.