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30-01-2005 22:45 Maidan-INFORM
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko Honors Heroes

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(Moya Ukraina)

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko laid flowers at the monument to the young men who died at Kruty in on January 29, 1918. Afterwards, President Yushchenko participated in the blessing of the cornerstone at Askold's Tomb, where a memorial will soon be built to honor bravery and resistance - the Pantheon of Heroes.

In his speech at Askold's Tomb, Yushchenko noted that today Ukrainians must restore what was lost because "that which is not preserved, not restored, will never exist in memory or history." The president of Ukraine said he is convinced that "Askold's Tomb, where the remains of Ukrainian kings and Ukrainian heroes are buried, is a sacred place which should be known to each Ukrainian."

Speaking with journalists, Yushchenko promised that in time, Askold's Tomb [Askol'dova Mohyla] will be carefully researched and restored, and that "this place will not be as anonymous as it is now."

After the wreath-laying and the blessing of the site of the future monument, the Ukrainian President spoke with people attending the ceremony. In attendance with the president were MPs Pavlo Movchan, Yuriy Kostenko and V'iacheslav Kyrylenko.
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Askold's Tomb is a historic site in the Kyiv hills. According to medieval chronicles, Kyievan Kniaz' (king) Askold was buried here in 882 AD. Since 1786, a municipal cemetery surrounds the site's church, where many prominent civic, academic and cultural individuals of Kyiv were buried. On March 19, 1918, a solemn funeral took place for some of the young men who perished in the battle at Kruty.
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From Encyclopedia of Ukraine (Toronto, 1988):

Kruty, Battle of. A battle near Kruty on 29 January, 1918. As a Bolshevik force of about 4,000 men commanded by M. Muravev advanced toward Kyiv, a small contingent of 500 men was hastily organized and sent to the front. It consisted mainly of a company of the Student Kurin of Sich Riflemen, a company of the Khmelnytsky Cadet School, and a Haidamaka detachment. Commanded by Captain A. Honcharenko, this force attempted to block the Bolshevik advance on the capital at Kruty, a railroad station 130 kilometres northeast of Kyiv. In a bitter battle, about half of the Ukrainian soldiers were killed, but their resistance delayed Muravev's capture of Kyiv and enabled the Ukrainian government to conclude the Peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The battle is commemorated as a symbol of patriotic self-sacrifice and is immortalized in numerous literary and publicistic works.
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The young men are remembered as the 300 [Trysta] who fell

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