1/On January 29, 1918, at the station of Kruty in the Chernihiv region, several hundred Ukrainian youths went out to fight a deadly battle with the Moscow-Bolshevik horde, which was superior in numbers and weapons.
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2/According to historical data, in January 1918, the Ukrainian People's Republic was in mortal danger: a Bolshevik uprising began in Kyiv, and the rebels were being helped by their "brothers," the Russian Red Army, from the north.
3/On January 29, they were already 130 km from Kyiv, near the Kruty railway station. The Ukrainian military command, which had expected the main Bolshevik offensive not from Bakhmach but from the Poltava direction and had sent the main forces there, was confused:
4/there was no combat-ready army that could resist the russians.
Kyiv newspapers wrote at the time: "There are only a few days left for Ukraine to exist as a state: we are in a hostile environment - not today or tomorrow will drunken Bolshevik soldiers be roaming the streets of Kyiv."
5/At that time, the UPR government was helped by young Ukrainians, students and gymnasium students: at a meeting of students at St. Volodymyr's University of Kyiv, they created a Sich Riflemen hut, which published an appeal to Ukrainian students in Kyiv newspapers. In particular, it reads:
6/💬"We must stop at all costs the march that could lead Ukraine to terrible ruin and long-term decline. Who better than us to block the Bolsheviks' path to Kyiv?"
7/💬"It was a very difficult retreat. We were running out of ammunition. Many of our shooters' rifles overheated and stopped shooting. They, like the less experienced shooters, gave the ammunition to the best shooters, and put a bayonet on their rifles as the only last weapon, and retreated sullenly
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Kyiv newspapers wrote at the time: "There are only a few days left for Ukraine to exist as a state: we are in a hostile environment - not today or tomorrow will drunken Bolshevik soldiers be roaming the streets of Kyiv."