This week in history

February 19: 1954. The Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR passed a decree transferring the Crimean oblast from the Russian SSFR to the Ukrainian SSR.

1992. Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the Trident as a small State Emblem of Ukraine, considering it a principal element of the large State Emblem of Ukraine.

February 20: 1919. The Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR passed a decree on civil marriage.

February 21: 1919. The first issue of Kommunar [Communard] newspaper, now called Vechirny Kyiv [Evening Kyiv], was published.

1996. During the visit of the president of Ukraine to the United States an agreement was signed between Ukraine and the US on launching commercial satellites.

February 22: 1945. The Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR passed a decision to build a subway system in Kyiv, the first section of which was put into operation in 1960.

1994. A Ukrainian diplomatic representation was officially opened in the Republic of Cuba.

February 23. The Day of the Defenders of the Fatherland.

1927. The Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR adopted a decision to give assistance to nomadic Gypsies in the period of their transition to a settled life.

February 24: 1941. A heavy machine building plant was put into operation in Kramatorsk.

February 25: 1873. The Southwest Branch of the Russian Geographical Society was created in Kyiv.

1933. Ukraine was loaned back part of the grain earlier seized from it for the spring sowing.

1957. The State Publishing House for Children’s Literature of the Ukrainian SSR was founded.