 The Soviet governmental commission headed by Nikita Khrushchev, the then Communist Party chief of the Ukrainian SSR, allotted northern Bukovina, Hertsa region, and larger parts of Hotin, Ismail, and Cetatea Albă counties to the Ukrainian SSR.During 1940–1941, political persecution of certain categories of locals took the form of arrests, executions, and deportations to the eastern parts of the Soviet Union.According to Alexandru Usatiuc-Bulgăr, 32,433 people received a politically motivated sentence, of which 8,360 were sentenced to death, or died during interrogations.