Ukrainian president lays flowers at Kruty Heroes Memorial

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his wife, Maryna Poroshenko, have laid flowers at the Memorial Cross to the Kruty Heroes in Kyiv.

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy, officials, parliamentarians, government officials and servicemen also took part in the ceremony to commemorate the heroes who perished near Kruty, an Ukrinform correspondent said.

A minute of silence for the deceased was observed, and the national anthem of Ukraine was played.

The Battle of Kruty is one of the most heroic and tragic pages in the history of Ukraine, which took place on January 29, 1918, between the towns of Nizhyn and Bakhmach in Chernihiv region, 130 kilometers north-east of Kyiv during the onslaught of Bolshevik forces led by Colonel Mikhail Muravyov.

The five-hour battle between 4,000 servicemen of the Russian Red Army and a small Ukrainian unit of 400 soldiers of the Bakhmach garrison, which consisted of a Student Battalion of Sich Riflemen, a unit of the Khmelnytsky Cadet School, and a Free Cossacks company. The battle lasted until evening, several attacks were repulsed, and combat losses included up to 300 of those killed, wounded, and captured. Commander Averkiy Honcharenko gave orders to retreat to the echelon, which was waiting at a distance of two kilometers. Retreating, some students were surrounded and offered resistance, but the forces were unequal. One group of students got misplaced and came to the Kruty railroad station, already occupied by the Red Army. Twenty-seven captured students were shot dead. The youngest of those killed were 16 years old.