President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine remembers and honors the steadfastness and courage of the Heroes of Kruty, who 102 years ago, just like today's defenders of Ukraine in Donbas, serve as a worthy example for future generations.

"One hundred and two years ago, the history of the struggle for one's own statehood was replenished with a heroic page – the Battle of Kruty. This story is, first of all, not about victory or defeat, not about evaluating the decisions of the command, about the historical and geopolitical consequences," he wrote on his page on Facebook on Wednesday.

Zelensky emphasized that this is a story, first of all, about the incredible courage and courage of very young, not fully trained cadets, students and gymnasium students, who defended the Ukrainian state and were able to stop the enemy, who significantly exceeded them in numbers and weapons.

On Wednesday, the head of state laid flowers to the Monument of Cross to the Heroes of Kruty in Kyiv.

On January 9, 1918, in the area of the railway station of the Kruty village of Chernihiv region, a battle between a detachment of Ukrainian volunteers – foremen and cadets of the First Kyiv Youth School named after Bohdan Khmelnytsky, as well as students of capital higher educational institutions and high school students with a total number of up to 400 people, against a five-thousand-strong group of Bolshevik Russia.

According to the results of the battle, the Ukrainian volunteer detachment lost from 65 to 74 people, according to various estimates, including 27 soldiers, who were captured by the Bolsheviks and shot dead. Later, the remains of the dead were reburied at the Askold Grave in Kyiv.