Pamyatne

The Kruty Heroes Memorial was opened in 2006 at the railway station "Kruty" (Pamyatne village near Kruty), where on January 29, 1918, an unequal battle took place between the 4,000-strong Bolshevik army of Mykhaylo Muravyov and several hundred Kyiv cadets and students who took up defense on the approaches to Kyiv.

The student group, formed from students of Saint Volodymyr Kyiv University, Ukrainian National University and Cyril and Methodius Gymnasium, was sent by the Central Council of the Ukrainian People's Republic to help the Bahamian garrison, which consisted of cadets of the cadet school. The battle lasted 8 hours. Ukrainian troops repelled several attacks by the Bolsheviks, but were forced to retreat, having previously dismantled the railway track.

There are no exact data on the number of dead on the Ukrainian side (historians give different figures - from several tens to three hundred). One reconnaissance platoon (about 30 men) was captured and executed by the Bolsheviks. The bodies of those shot were later buried at the Askold grave, history has preserved the names of only 18 of them.

In the course of military operations, the battle near Kruty was not of decisive importance, but the feat of Kyiv students is heroized as an example of patriotism and self-sacrifice of Ukrainian youth. Oleksandr Vertynskyi's song about the fallen cadets "I don't know why and who needs it..." and Pavlo Tychyna's poem about the thirty martyrs "They were buried at the Askold grave" became a symbol of the era.

The central element of the Kruty Heroes Memorial is a monumental stele in the form of a column of the Red Corps of Kyiv University, crowned with a trident.

The museum exposition is housed in old railway carriages collected from all over Ukraine.

Festive events take place on January 29 every year.