68 years ago Poltava was liberated by the Red Army.

Issued by Marshal Stalin and addressed to Army General Koniev
Troops of the Steppe front, successfully developing their offensive, forced the River Vorskla, and after three days' fierce fighting, today, September 23, 1943 captured the regional centre of the Ukraine, the town of Poltava, a powerful German defence centre in the Ukraine to the east of the Dnieper.
In the fighting for the liberation of the town of Poltava, troops commanded by Lieutenant-General Zhadov, Lieutenant-General Managarov and airmen commanded by Lieutenant-General of Aviation Goryunov, distinguished themselves, especially the 9th Guards Airborne Division (Colonel Sazonov), the 13th Guards Red Banner Infantry Division, bearing the Order of Lenin (Major-General Baklanov), the 66th Guards Infantry Division (Major-General Yakshin), the 95th Guards Infantry Division (Major-General Nikichenko), the 97th Guards Infantry Division (Colonel Antsiferov), the 84th Kharkov Infantry Division (Major-General Bunyashin), the 42nd Light Artillery Brigade (Colonel Skorodumov), the 301st Anti-tank Artillery Regiment (Lieutenant-Colonel Vlassenko), the 57th Tank Regiment (Lieutenant-Colonel Federov), the 431st Engineering Battalion (Lieutenant-Colonel Boltusevich), the 294th Fighter Aviation Division (Lieutenant-Colonel Taranenko) and the 266th Stormovik Aviation Division (Colonel Rodyakin).
In commemoration of the victory achieved, the formations and units who distinguished themselves in the fighting for the liberation of the town of Poltava are to bear the name of Poltava. Henceforth the above mentioned formations and units are named: The 9th Guards Poltava Airborne Division, the 13th Guards Red Banner Poltava Infantry Division, bearing the Order of Lenin, the 66th Guards Poltava Infantry Division, the 95th Guards Poltava Infantry Division, the 97th Guards Poltava Infantry Division, the 42nd Poltava Light Artillery Brigade,’the 301st Poltava Anti-tank Artillery Regiment, the 57th Poltava Tank Regiment, the 431st Poltava Engineering Battalion, the 294th Poltava Fighter Aviation Division and the 266th Poltava Stormovik Aviation Division.
The 84th Kharkov Infantry Division, which has for the second time distinguished itself in battle against the German invaders, is to be recommended for the award of the Order of the Red Banner. Today, September 23, at 21.00 hours the capital of our Motherland, Moscow, on behalf of the Motherland, will salute with 12 artillery salvoes from 124 guns our gallant troops which liberated the town of Poltava. For excellent military operations, I express my thanks to all troops commanded by you who participated in the fighting for the liberation of the town of Poltava.
Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the fight for the freedom and independence of our Motherland. Death to the German invaders!

J. V. STALIN
Supreme Commander-in-Chief

Marshal of the Soviet Union

Ukrainian diaspora in the United States have sent an open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

September 22, 2011 (Interfax-Ukraine). Ukrainian diaspora in the United States have sent an open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
"Dear Mister President! In September 2010 Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), which represents over a million Americans of Ukrainian origin, sent you a letter expressing its concern about the situation in Ukraine. Not many of those issues have been addressed by the government as of today, on the contrary, the situation with human rights and national rights in Ukraine has become even worse, which is proved by the arrest and prosecution of former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko, as well as other political prosecutions in the country," reads the letter.

The authors of the letter added that, "We still hope that you will realize how wrong your current positions are and will take on the burden of honest service to our people in Ukraine and abroad."

"Today we confirm our position and stress that we continue firmly standing for our principles. As we have already said in our previous letter, we are ready to meet with you and other officials from the government for a constructive dialogue, but only under the condition that we see that the Ukrainian government follows democratic principles and that you sincerely care about the Ukrainian nation and its numerous problems. The UCCA also acknowledges that the Ukrainian government has started carrying out its obligations to the U.S. government by transferring the first tranche for the construction of a memorial to victims of the Holodomor in Washington, Columbia," reads the letter. The authors of the letter also said, "the Ukrainian community in the United States will always work to make Ukraine a rich, democratic, equality of rights respecting state in the family of Euro-Atlantic states."

Ukraine, NATO discuss issues about cooperation concerning general European anti-missile defense system

September 9, 2011 (UNIAN). Ukraine and NATO discuss issues about cooperation concerning general European anti-missile defense system. According to an UNIAN correspondent, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy Dirk Brengelmann said this at the news conference in Kyiv today. "I realized at an early stage that Ukraine is interested in this," said Dirk Brengelmann. He noted that he discussed this issue with officials of the Administration of the President of Ukraine. “We noticed that there is a great interest from the side of our Ukrainian colleagues concerning anti-missile defense system”, underlined Dirk Brengelmann. At the same time, according to his words, NATO and Ukraine should discuss details cooperation in this direction.

Saint Petersburg marks 70 years of Leningrad Siege

September 9, 2011 (Reuters). Russia's second-largest city is commemorating the 70th anniversary of the start of a deadly 29-month-long Nazi siege during the World War II that cut its population by nearly a million people. Public loudspeakers in St. Petersburg, along with radio and television stations, on Thursday morning broadcast roaring air-raid warnings and sounds of a metronome. The metronome sound was used during the siege to inform residents of air raids and all-clear announcements. The 872-day-long siege of the city, then known as Leningrad, is one of the darkest moments of Russia's participation in the war. A million city residents are believed to have died of hunger and bombings, and while defending the city's outskirts.

Ukraine is celebrating Knowledge Day

KYIV, September 1, 2011

Ukraine is celebrating Knowledge Day on September 1 with all school bells ringing for 4,200 million pupils. 416,000 of them are first graders. Almost all secondary schools are ready for the new school year: running and overhaul repairs have been completed for almost 19,000 educational institutions, overhaul - 2,058. Knowledge Day was established by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR on November 1, 1984.