This day in history

1875: Chernivtsi University starts functioning.

1941: Soviet forces retreat from Zaporizhia after pitched battles with the Wehrmacht.

1947: The Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine adopts a decree establishing seven task forces to liquidate the central and local provid leaderships of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).

1957: The Soviet Union launches the world’s first artificial Earth satellite; in 1967 this date is proclaimed as the beginning of Space Age by the International Astronautical Federation.

1968: Kyiv Metro Station Komsomolska (currently Lisova) starts functioning.

1977: An emergency sitting of the Supreme Soviet [Council] of the USSR adopts a new Constitution of the Soviet Union.

1996: The Southern Economic Union is established in the Crimea.

2001: Ukraine’s air defenses mistakenly shoot down a passenger jet headed for Tel Aviv over the Black Sea.