December 8, 1868: the Prosvita Ukrainian rural educational and
cultural society is founded in Lviv. December 8, 1991: leaders of
Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine sign an agreement setting up the Commonwealth
of Independent States. December 9, 1836: Bellini's Norma appears
for the first time on the Russian operatic stage. December 9, 1918:
the UNR Dyrektoriya reinstates the 8-hour workday, abrogated by the previous
Hetman regime. December 10, 1948: UN General Assembly adopts the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. December 10, 1963: Dniprodzerzhinsk
Hydroelectric Station starts generating. December 11, 1914: Mykhailo
Hrushevsky returns from Lviv to Kyiv, is arrested and exiled to Simbirsk.
December 11, 1991: the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine resolves to establish
diplomatic relations with former USSR republics, now independent states.
December 12, 1937: the first elections to USSR Supreme Soviet are
held. December 12, 1988: the AN-225 Mriya, the world's largest cargo
plane, flies its first test mission. December 13, 1897: Russian
troops seize Port Arthur (now Dalian, China). December 13, 1941:
Nazis start executing Ukrainian intellectuals in Kyiv. December 14,
1932: Stalin and Molotov blame failures to meet grain quotas in Ukraine
and the North Caucasus on "Ukrainian nationalists" and other "enemies"
in regional Communist Party organizations.






