| Christianity adopted by Kyivan-Rus Prince Volodymyr the Great. |
1240 | Kyiv destroyed by Mongol invasion. |
1550 | Cossack Movement begins. |
1654 | Cossack Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytskyi signs Treaty of Pereiaslav with Muscovite Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovych. |
17 March 1917 | Ukrainian government formed in Kyiv, called the Central Rada (Council). |
January 1918 | First Red Army invasion into Ukraine. |
April 1918 | Pavlo Skoropadskyi government set up in Kyiv, backed by Germany. |
October 1918 | Austro-Hungary and Germany surrender, World War I ends; Western Ukrainian Peoples Republic created in Lviv. |
December 1918 | Second Ukrainian Peoples Republic created in Kyiv by the Directory. |
Summer 1919 | Second Red Army invasion into Ukraine. |
Winter 1919 | Third Red Army invasion into Ukraine. |
18 March 1921 | Treaty of Riga divides Ukrainian territory between Poland and the USSR. |
10 March 1985 | Mikhail Gorbachev elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. |
26 April 1986 | Chornobyl nuclear accident. |
16 February 1989 | Draft Programme of Ukrainian opposition movement published in Literaturna Hazeta newspaper. |
8-9 September 1989 | Ukrainian opposition movement Rukh holds founding congress in Kyiv. |
28 September 1989 | Volodymyr Shcherbytskyi, last Brezhnevite Politburo member removed from power in Ukraine, replaced by Volodymyr Ivashko. |
16 July 1990 | Declaration of Sovereignty which outlined the blueprint for Ukraines policy. |
November 1990 | Ukraines Foreign Minister Anatoliy Zlenko speaks at the UN and invites countries to establish diplomatic relations with Ukraine; Ukraine and Russia sign a bilateral Friendship and Cooperation Treaty. |
17 March 1991 | Gorbachevs referendum on the Union Treaty, Ukraine votes on sovereignty declaration; 70.5% support Union Treaty and 80.2% support sovereignty. |
30 March 1991 | Ukrainian Catholic leader Cardinal Liubachivskyi returns to Ukraine. |
June 1991 | National Bank of Ukraine formed; Presidential post created and elections announced for 1 December. |
July 1991 | Unemployment benefits introduced in Ukraine. |
31 July 1991 | START nuclear disarmament treaty signed in Moscow. |
1 August 1991 | US President George Bush visits Ukraine and advises not to pursue independence in Chicken Kyiv speech. |
1922 August 1991 | Coup in Moscow. |
24 August 1991 | Ukrainian Parliament declares independence by a vote of 346 to 1. |
26 August 1991 | Parliamentary Presidium suspends Communist Party in Ukraine. |
27 August 1991 | Russian President Borys Yeltsins Press Secretary makes statement on need to revise borders with Ukraine. |
28 August 1991 | Special delegation flies to Kyiv from Moscow to deal with emergency situation. |
12 September 1991 | Konstantyn Morozov named Ukraines first Defence Minister. |
Autumn 1991 | Ukraine begins creating armed force. |
1 December 1991 | Referendum on independence, over 90.2% yes vote. First Presidential Elections, Parliamentary Speaker Leonid Kravchuk elected by 62% majority. |
2 December 1991 | Poland and Canada are the first two countries to recognise Ukraines independence. |
6 December 1991 | Ukrainian delegation flies to Baku to negotiate oil deal with Iran. |
89 December 1991 | CIS formed at the Trilateral Summit between Ukrainian, Russian and Belorussian leaders in Belovhzhskaya Pushcha outside Minsk. |
25 December 1991 | Gorbachev announces USSR officially dissolved. |
30 December 1991 | Ukraine refuses to sign CIS charter. |
31 December 1991 | Ukraine applies for IMF membership. |
2 January 1992 | Ukraine begins year with radical reform programmeliberalised prices and cut subsidies but simultaneous decree on social protection: wages, pensions, student stipends and unemployment benefits doubled. |
3 January 1992 | Ukraine claims ownership of all non-strategic forces on territory including communications equipmentRussia criticises move; troops required to swear oath to Ukraine or leaveby 6 January 80% did; Russia announced that it was taking over all Soviet foreign assets. |