This week in history

Oct. 24 1991: The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopts a declaration on Ukraine’s non-nuclear status.

1994. Ukraine’s President Leonid Kuchma visits Canada and signs a friendship and cooperation agreement between Ukraine and Canada.

Oct. 25 1938: The Union of Artists of Ukraine is founded during the 1st Congress of Soviet Ukrainian artists.

2001: The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopts the new Land Code.

Oct. 26 1939: A popular assembly in Western Ukraine proclaims the transfer of all power to the working masses in urban and rural areas and the establishment of Soviet rule, etc.

1947: The largest mass deportation of Ukrainians (affecting nearly 78,000 people) from the western oblasts of Ukraine begins in the postwar period.

Oct. 27 1659: Yurii Khmelnytsky and the Muscovite government sign an agreement aimed at regulating Cossack Ukraine’s political and legal status as a constituent part of Muscovy (the Pereiaslav Articles).

1882: The touring Ukrainian drama company founded by Mykhailo Kropyvnytsky stages its first production in the city of Yelysavethrad (today: Kirovohrad).

Oct. 28 2001: The presidents of Ukraine and Macedonia, Leonid Kuchma and Boris Trajkovski, meet in the Crimea and agree on further military and technological cooperation.

2004: A military parade and a ceremonial march of war veterans are held in Kyiv to mark the 60th anniversary of Ukraine’s liberation from the fascist aggressors.

Oct. 29 1880: The first open-hearth furnace is launched at the Luhansk Metallurgical Works.

2001: Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh visits the US to discuss the prospects of a Ukrainian-US strategic partnership.

Oct. 30 1708: Tsar Peter I of Russia issues a decree to the Zaporozhian Cossacks, promising that he will not institute any repressions against them and inviting the Zaporozhian officers to Hlukhiv for a council to elect a hetman.

2001: The last ICBM silo is dismantled in Ukraine.