What does the Ukrainian embassy in the United States have in common with the birth of the capital of America, Washington?

Recently, our defenders visited the Ukrainian embassy at the invitation of the Defence Attaché of Ukraine in the United States, Major General Borys Kremenetskyi. 

They talked to each other and discussed the assistance American and European partners provided to Ukraine. The Major General and Senior Assistant Defense Attaché Oleksandr Rozhkov conducted a tour for the military men, congratulated Oleksii on his birthday, and told interesting facts about the history of the embassy building.

At the end of the 18th century, the mayor and General Forrest lived in the mansion now the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States in Georgetown, on the banks of the Potomac River. He was a hero of the American Revolutionary War and lost his leg while wounded during the Battle of Germantown. At that time the Continental Congress instructed the first President of the United States, George Washington, to find a new location for the capital of America instead of Philadelphia. The choice was made in favor of Georgetown and the area along the Potomac River.

President Washington asked General Forest to help him negotiate an agreement with 19 local landowners to transfer their land to the government for the establishment of the new capital. Exactly at General Forest's house, the agreement between Washington and the landowners was signed during a dinner hosted by Forest at his home on 29 March 1791. Thus, the building of the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States became the birthplace of the federal state of Washington.

On 31 December 1992, the Government of Ukraine purchased the building to house the Embassy of Ukraine. On 27 June 1997, the President George Washington Memorial Room was opened in the building.

We are grateful to everyone who supports our soldiers far away from home and creates a corner of Ukraine for them abroad!