This day in history

1037: Chronicles first mention Kyivan Rus’ Prince Yaroslav the Wise founding the country’s first library on the grounds of St. Sophia’s Cathedral.

1648: Ukrainian troops led by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s defeat the Polish army in the Battle of Pyliavtsi.

1939: The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is signed in Moscow.

1943: The Battle of Kursk ends, liberating Kharkiv, marking a turning point in the Second World War.

1975: Kharkiv’s subway, Ukraine’s second and USSR’s sixth, becomes operational.

1988: Soviet-US peace walk starts in Odesa heading to Kyiv.

1992: The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate) lifts the anathema against Hetman Ivan Mazepa since it was imposed by Peter I of Russia.

1995: The president of Ukraine institutes the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (1st to 5th Grades).

2004: The president of Ukraine orders to mark August 23 as The Day of the National Flag of Ukraine.