This week in history

October 19 1918. The Volga German Commune, an autonomous region in the Russian SFR, was established.

1946. The Kyiv T. H. Shevchenko Opera and Ballet Theater staged the first performance of Mykola Lysenko's opera, Taras Bulba.

October 20 1923. The first issue of the art and literary journal Barykady teatru (The Barricades of Theater) was published in Kyiv.

1924. Ukraine's first radio station opened in Kharkiv.

October 21 1898. The Mykolayiv shipbuilding dockyard was founded.

1923. The ANT-1 airplane, designed by A. N. Tupolev, made its maiden flight.

October 22 1918. The Kamianets Ukrainian State University was opened in Kamianets- Podilsk.

1975. The landing module of the Soviet unmanned spacecraft Venus-9 transmitted the first pictures of Venus's surface.

October 23 1859. Kyiv opened two summer schools.

1990. The Supreme Soviet of Ukraine passed a Constitutional amendment canceling Article 6 on the Communist Party's leading role.

October 24 1991. The Supreme Soviet of Ukraine made a statement on Ukraine's nuclear-free status.

1994. A friendship and cooperation treaty between Ukraine and Canada was signed during the visit of President Leonid Kuchma to Canada.

October 25 1938. The Union of Artists of Ukraine was established.

1941. Soviet troops abandoned Kharkiv to the Germans after pitched battles.