This week in history

May 23: 1917. The Central Rada adopted its First Universal proclaiming the sovereignty and autonomy of Ukraine.

1995. Ukraine and Latvia signed their Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation.

May 24: Day of the Slavic Alphabet and Culture.

1940. The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America was founded in Washington.

1991. The Ministry of Justice registered the Green Party of Ukraine.

May 25: 1653. A Zemsky Sobor (Assembly of the Land) in Moscow began to consider the question of the union of Ukraine and Russia.

1709. By order of Peter I, Tsarist troops ruined the Zaporozhzhian (Chortomlyk) Sich.

May 26: 1648. Cossacks led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky won a victory over Polish detachments near Korsun.

1942. Great Britain and the USSR signed a treaty on alliance in the war against Nazi Germany.

May 27: 1654. A royal decree was issued, calling on Zaporozhzhian Cossacks to regain the status of Rzeczpospolita subjects.

1821. The Mykolayiv Astronomical Observatory was founded.

May 28: 1763. A painting school was opened in Kyiv.

1997. Ukraine and the Russian Federation signed a package of documents on partitioning and basing the Black Sea Fleet.

May 29: 1738. The tsar issued a decree prohibiting the Cossacks and peasants of Slobidska Ukraine (the Muscovy-controlled state) from going to the Hetman Ukrainian state or Russia.

1964. The USSR’s largest botanical garden was opened in Kyiv.