This week in history

June 26 1919: The first All-Ukraine Congress of Communist Organizations of Working Youth convenes in Kyiv, during which the Komsomol of Ukraine is founded.

1994: Presidential elections are held in Ukraine. A second round is scheduled, as none of the candidates obtained the required number of votes.

June 27 1964: A monument to the great Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko is unveiled in Washington, D.C.

2001: A Byzantine-rite Divine Liturgy is celebrated at the Lviv Racetrack during the last day of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Ukraine.

June 28 1940: The Red Army occupies Bessarabia and Northern Bukovyna.

1996: The Verkhovna Rada adopts a new Constitution of Ukraine.

June 29 1945: The Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia sign a treaty annexing Carpatho-Ukraine to the Ukrainian SSR.

1995: President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine signs an edict instituting the annual all-Ukraine competition for “Teacher of the Year.”

June 30 1945: The Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR addresses a message to the people in conjunction with the signing of a treaty between Czechoslovakia and the USSR and the final reunification of the Ukrainian lands.

1992: The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passes a bill on the delimitation of authority between the governments of Ukraine and the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea.

July 1 1937: The Radnarkom of the Ukrainian SSR resolves to establish state nature preserves.

1989: The founding conference of the People’s Movement of Ukraine (Rukh) for Restructuring takes place in Kyiv.

July 2 1976: A monument to Soviet citizens and POW officers and soldiers shot by the Germans in 1941-43 is unveiled at Babyn Yar.

1993: Kyiv hosts the First All-Ukraine Assembly of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists.