This week in history 

March 23. World Meteorological Day. 1944. The Central Republican Botanical Gardens opened in Kyiv under the aegis the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. 1994. A partnership and cooperation agreement between Ukraine and the European Union was signed in Brussels. March 24. 1753. Capital punishment was abolished in Russia. 1935. A monument to the great Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko was unveiled in Kharkiv. March 25. 1651. The forces of Cossack Colonel Ivan Bohun routed Polish troops near Vinnytsia. 1918. Germany and Austria-Hungary signed a covenant on dividing the territory of Ukraine into the Austrian and German zones of influence. March 26. Day of the Internal-Security Forces of Ukraine. 1917. The Central Rada decided to hoist the national flag over the building of the Pedagogical Museum where it was in session. 1989. The USSR held its first free elections. March 27. International Theater Day. 1917. Mykhailo Hrushevsky returned from exile and headed the Central Rada. 1943. The Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine resolved to set up the Taras Shevchenko State Literature and Art Museum. March 28. 1944. Soviet forces took Mykolayiv from the Nazi Germans. March 29 1864. A Ukrainian professional theater was opened in Lviv under the auspices of the Ruthenian Dialogue society. 1910. The journal Ukrainsky holos (Ukrainian Voice) began to come out in Winnipeg, Canada.