August 18, 1948: Ukraine signs the Danube Navigation Convention in Belgrade. August 18, 1970: Nikolai Gogol (Mykola Hohol) State Pedagogical Institute of Nizhyn is awarded the Red Banner of Labor Order, in commemoration of its sesquicentennial. August 19, 1941: Soviet forces retreat from Kherson. August 19, 1991: the GKChP State Emergency (Putsch) Committee is set up in Moscow, commencing an abortive coup by hard-line Communist diehards. August 19, 1992: the First World Ukrainian Forum is called to order. August 20, 1925: Tarasova Hill (the mound on top of which Shevchenko's remains were buried after being transferred from St. Petersburg) is proclaimed a state preserve. August 20, 1993: an international teachers' convention opens in Kyiv. August 21, 1652: Bohdan Khmelnytsky's son marries the daughter of the Moldavian ruler, thus causing a renewal of Moldavian-Ukrainian alliance. August 22, 1918: Ukrainian and Turkish diplomatic missions exchange letters confirming the ratification of the Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. August 22, 1996: National Fashion Days are held for the first time in Ukraine (Aug. 22-25). August 23, 1648: Bohdan Khmelnytsky's troops defeat Polish forces at Pyliavtsy. August 23, 1992: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church removes from Hetman Ivan Mazepa of the anathema ordered by Russian Tsar Peter I. August 24, 1991: the Supreme Council passes the Act of Ukrainian Independence. August 24, 1992: the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy National University opens in Kyiv.






