Yanukovych calls to bow heads in memory of Kruty heroes

Self-sacrifice of military cadets and students in the name of the Fatherland is an example of patriotism and love for their native country, President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych told compatriots on the occasion of the Kruty Heroes Remembrance Day.

"The Battle of Kruty occurred 95 years ago. This feat of Ukrainian youth inscribed a new page into the history of the Ukrainian liberation movement," the head of state noted.

"Let us bow our heads in sorrow for those who gave their lives for the independence of Ukraine and for the people," Yanukovych called on.

Kruty (currently in Chernihiv region, northeastern Ukraine) was a village and a railway station between Bakhmach and Nizhyn in Ukraine's north, which saw on January 29, 1918 a historic battle between the superior Bolshevik troops and 300 Kyiv students and cadets, who stood up for the Ukrainian People's Republic. Volunteers, students and pupils of Kyiv gymnasiums died in an unequal fight nearby the Kruty station trying to resist advance of Russian Bolsheviks headed by Mikhail Muravyov to Kyiv. They defended the government of the Central Rada and independence of Ukraine.