This week in history 

February 9 1648. Bohdan Khmelnytsky is elected Hetman of Ukraine. 1904. Russo-Japanese War begins. February 10:  1784. By Russian government decree, a naval defense port and fortress is named Sevastopol, which is Greek for "city of glory." 1919. The Ukrainian Directory breaks off fruitless negotiations with the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR.  February 11  1900. The first Ukrainian political party, the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party (RUP), is formed in Russian-ruled Ukraine. 1963. Kyiv hosts a conference on the culture of the Ukrainian language, where it is proposed that Ukrainian be given official status.  February 12  1939. First elections to the Sejm of Carpatho-Ukraine are held. 1960. Ukraine's first nuclear reactor is commissioned.  February 13  1942. Forcible deportation of the population from Nazi-occupied territories begins. Over 2 million people are deported from Ukraine in 1942-1944. 1960. The Ukrainian SSR Council of Ministers resolves to set up factories-cum-colleges as well as industrial enterprises and shops attached to higher educational institutions.  February 14  1943. Voroshylovhrad (now Luhansk) is taken from the Germans. 1993. Hungary, Poland, and Ukraine sign a declaration on cooperation among peoples of the Carpathian region.  February 15  1919. The Ukrainian National Rada adopts a law on the use of Ukrainian in state-run institutions. 1989. Soviet troops are completely withdrawn from Afghanistan.