This week in history

July 10: 1941. The Battle of Smolensk began, in which the operations of the Soviet troops played an important role in destroying Hitler’s Blitzkrieg plan.

1994. Leonid Kuchma was elected as President of Ukraine.

July 11: 1941. The defense of Kyiv from the Nazis began.

1996. Mass protest actions and strikes began as Ukrainian coal mines demanding wage arrears be paid.

July 12: 1941. The governments of Ukraine and Great Britain signed an agreement on combined actions in the war against Germany.

1996. People’s Deputies of Ukraine swore allegiance to the people of Ukraine in accordance with the Ukrainian Constitution.

July 13: 1920. The Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR approved founding the Ukrainian Red Cross.

1944. Soviet troops took Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, from the Nazis.

July 14: 1937. The Council of People’s Commissars of Ukraine ratified a decision creating coastal preserves on the Black and Azov seacoasts.

1941. The Soviet Army for the first time used Katiusha rockets on the banks of the Dnipro near the town of Orsha.

July 15: 1812. The first salute was made in St. Petersburg from the walls of St. Peter and Paul Fortress to celebrate the victory of the Russian Army over Napoleon.

1 944. The Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council was founded by OUN-UPA.

July 16: 1917. The Central Rada ratified the Statute of the Higher Administration of Ukraine giving the Central Rada and General Secretariat the plenary powers of a parliament and a government respectively.

1990. Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified the Declaration on the State Independence of Ukraine.