This week in history

October 28: 1920. The counteroffensive of the Southern Front troops began, taking Northern Tavriya from Wrangel.

1996. The Ministry for Emergency Situations was established.

October 29: 1800. The first blast furnace was put into operation at the Luhansk Metallurgical Plant.

1918. Hetman of Ukraine Pavlo Skoropadsky issued a message to Ukrainian people marking the first six months of the existence of the Ukrainian State.

October 30: 1708. Peter I gave a letter to Zaporozhzhian Cossacks promising not to oppress them and inviting Zaporozhzhian senior officers to Hlukhiv for a council to elect a hetman.

1941. The Soviet defense of Sevastopol by its garrison, the Black Sea Fleet, and the Coastal Army began.

October 31: 1995. Ukraine completed fulfillment of its obligations under the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe.

1995. Verkhovna Rada passed a law On Joining the Statute of the Council of Europe.

November 1: 1939. The Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR passed a law On Including Western Ukraine into the USSR and its Reunification with Ukrainian SSR.

1991. Verkhovna Rada ratified its Declaration of the Rights of Nationalities.

November 2: 1941. The Radianska Ukrayina [Soviet Ukraine] radio station began work in Moscow.

1973. The first stage of the 3600 fine-sheet rolling mill was put into operation at the Azovstal metallurgic plant.

November 3: 1918. The Bukovyna People’s Council proclaimed the reunification of Northern Bukovyna with Ukraine.

1943. The Kyiv offensive of the First Ukrainian Front began, in course of which Kyiv was taken from the Germans and a strategic military outpost created near it on the Dnipro Right Bank.