Ukrainian Insurgent Army, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
End of UPA resistance
The turning point in the struggle against the UPA came in 1947, when the Soviets established an intelligence gathering network within the UPA and shifted the focus of their actions from mass terror to infiltration and espionage.
After 1947 the UPA's activity began to subside.
On May 30, 1947, Shukhevych issued instructions joining the OUN and UPA in underground warfare.
In 1947–1948 UPA resistance was weakened enough to allow the Soviets to begin implementation of large-scale collectivization throughout Western Ukraine.
In 1948, the Soviet central authorities purged local officials who had mistreated peasants and engaged in "vicious methods".
At the same time, Soviet agents planted within the UPA had taken their toll on morale and on the UPA's effectiveness.
According to the writing of one slain Ukrainian rebel, "the Bolsheviks tried to take us from within...you can never know exactly in whose hands you will find yourself."
"From such a network of spies, the work of whole teams is often penetrated...".
In November 1948, the work of Soviet agents led to two important victories against the UPA: the defeat and deaths of the heads of the most active UPA network in Western Ukraine, and the removal of "Myron", the head of the UPA's counter-intelligence SB unit.
The Soviet authorities tried to win over the local population by making significant economic investment in Western Ukraine, and by setting up rapid reaction groups in many regions to combat the UPA.
According to one retired MVD major, "By 1948 ideologically we had the support of most of the population."
The UPA's leader, Roman Shukhevych, was killed during an ambush near Lviv on 5 March 1950.
Although sporadic UPA activity continued until the mid-1950s, after Shukhevich's death the UPA rapidly lost its fighting capability.
An assessment of UPA manpower by Soviet authorities on 17 April 1952 claimed that UPA/OUN had only 84 fighting units consisting of 252 persons.
The UPA's last commander, Vasyl Kuk, was captured on 24 May 1954.
Despite the existence of some insurgent groups, according to a report by the MGB of the Ukrainian SSR, the "liquidation of armed units and OUN underground was accomplished by the beginning of 1956".
NKVD units dressed as UPA fighters are known to have committed atrocities against the civilian population in order to discredit the UPA.
Among these NKVD units were those composed of former UPA fighters working for the NKVD.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) recently published information that about 150 such special groups consisting of 1,800 people operated until 1954.
Prominent people killed by UPA insurgents during the anti-Soviet struggle included Metropolitan Oleksiy (Hromadsky) of the Ukrainian Autonomous Orthodox Church, killed while travelling in a German convoy, and pro-Soviet writer Yaroslav Halan.
In 1951 CIA covert operations chief Frank Wisner estimated that some 35,000 Soviet police troops and Communist party cadres had been eliminated by guerrillas affiliated with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the period after the end of World War II.
Official Soviet figures for the losses inflicted by all types of Ukrainian nationalists during the period 1944–1953 referred to 30,676 persons; amongst them were 687 NKGB-MGB personnel, 1,864 NKVD-MVD personnel, 3,199 Soviet Army, Border Guards, and NKVD-MVD troops, 241 communist party leaders, 205 komsomol leaders and 2,590 members of self-defence units.
According to Soviet data the remaining losses were among civilians, including 15,355 peasants and kolkhozniks.
Soviet archives state that between February 1944 and January 1946 the Soviet forces conducted 39,778 operations against the UPA, during which they killed a total of 103,313, captured a total of 8,370 OUN members and captured a total of 15,959 active insurgents.
Many UPA members were imprisoned in the Gulag.
They actively participated in Gulag uprisings (Kengir uprising, Norilsk uprising, Vorkuta uprising).
TO BE CONTINUED ...
UKRAINIAN INSURGENT ARMY
Re: UKRAINIAN INSURGENT ARMY
Ukrainian Insurgent Army, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Soviet infiltration
In 1944–1945 the NKVD carried out 26,693 operations against the Ukrainian underground.
These resulted in the deaths of 22,474 Ukrainian soldiers and the capture of 62,142 prisoners.
During this time the NKVD formed special groups known as spetshrupy made up of former Soviet partisans.
The goal of these groups was to discredit and disorganize the OUN and UPA.
In August 1944, Sydir Kovpak was placed under NKVD authority.
Posing as Ukrainian insurgents, these special formations used violence against the civilian population of Western Ukraine.
In June 1945 there were 156 such special groups with 1783 members.
From December 1945 to 1946, 15,562 operations were carried out in which 4,200 were killed and more than 9,400 were arrested.
From 1944 to 1953, the Soviets killed 153,000 and arrested 134,000 members of the UPA.
66,000 families (204,000 people) were forcibly deported to Siberia, and half a million people were subject to repressions.
In the same period Polish communist authorities deported 450,000 people.
Soviet infiltration of British intelligence also meant that MI6 assisted in training some of the guerrillas in parachuting, and unmarked planes used to drop them into Ukraine from bases in Cyprus and Malta, was counter-acted by the fact that one MI6 agent with knowledge of the operation was the traitor Kim Philby.
Working with Anthony Blunt, he alerted Soviet security forces about planned drops.
Ukrainian guerrillas were intercepted and most were executed.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Soviet infiltration
In 1944–1945 the NKVD carried out 26,693 operations against the Ukrainian underground.
These resulted in the deaths of 22,474 Ukrainian soldiers and the capture of 62,142 prisoners.
During this time the NKVD formed special groups known as spetshrupy made up of former Soviet partisans.
The goal of these groups was to discredit and disorganize the OUN and UPA.
In August 1944, Sydir Kovpak was placed under NKVD authority.
Posing as Ukrainian insurgents, these special formations used violence against the civilian population of Western Ukraine.
In June 1945 there were 156 such special groups with 1783 members.
From December 1945 to 1946, 15,562 operations were carried out in which 4,200 were killed and more than 9,400 were arrested.
From 1944 to 1953, the Soviets killed 153,000 and arrested 134,000 members of the UPA.
66,000 families (204,000 people) were forcibly deported to Siberia, and half a million people were subject to repressions.
In the same period Polish communist authorities deported 450,000 people.
Soviet infiltration of British intelligence also meant that MI6 assisted in training some of the guerrillas in parachuting, and unmarked planes used to drop them into Ukraine from bases in Cyprus and Malta, was counter-acted by the fact that one MI6 agent with knowledge of the operation was the traitor Kim Philby.
Working with Anthony Blunt, he alerted Soviet security forces about planned drops.
Ukrainian guerrillas were intercepted and most were executed.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UKRAINIAN INSURGENT ARMY
Ukrainian Insurgent Army, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Holocaust
The OUN pursued a policy of infiltrating the German police to obtain weapons and training for fighters.
In that role, it helped the Germans to carry out the Holocaust.
Although most Jews were actually killed by Germans, the Ukrainian auxiliary police, working for the Germans, played a crucial supporting role in the liquidation of 200,000 Jews in Volhynia in the second half of 1942 although in isolated cases Ukrainian policemen also helped Jews to escape.
Most of the police deserted in the following spring and joined UPA.
Numerous accounts ascribe to the UPA a role in the killing of Ukrainian Jews under the German occupation.
According to Ray Brandon, co-editor of The Shoah in Ukraine, "Jews in hiding in Volhynia saw the UPA as a threat."
While anti-Semitism did not play a significant role in Ukrainian politics, with the first anti-Semitic ideology and acts traced back to the Russian Civil War, by 1940–41 the publications of Ukrainian terrorist organizations became explicitly anti-Semitic.
German documents of the period give the impression that Ukrainian ultranationalists were indifferent to the plight of the Jews and would either kill them or help them, whichever was more appropriate for their political goals.
According to John Paul Himka, OUN militias were responsible for a wave of anti-Jewish pogroms in Lviv in 1941, in what it was at the time occupied Poland, and other areas that claimed thousands of lives.
The OUN had repudiated pogroms but changed its stand when the Germans, with whom the OUN sought an alliance, demanded participation in them.
According to Unian.net, recently declassified documents have shown that the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) was most likely not strongly involved in anti-Jewish activities in 1941.
Jews played an important role in the Soviet partisan movement in Volhynia and participated in its actions.
According to Timothy D. Snyder, the Soviet partisans were known for their brutality by retaliating against entire villages suspected of working with the Germans, killing individuals deemed to be collaborators, and provoking the Germans to attack villages.
UPA would later attempt to match that brutality.
By early 1943, the OUN had entered into open armed conflict with Nazi Germany.
According to Ukrainian historian and former UPA soldier Lew Shankowsky, immediately upon assuming the position of commander of the UPA in August 1943, Roman Shukhevych issued an order banning participation in anti-Jewish activities.
No written record of this order, however, has been found.
In 1944, the OUN formally "rejected racial and ethnic exclusivity".
Nevertheless, Jews hiding from the Germans with Poles in Polish villages were often killed by UPA along with their Polish saviors, although in at least one case, they were spared as the Poles were murdered.
Despite the earlier anti-Jewish statements by the OUN, and its involvement in the killing of some Jews, there were cases of Jewish participation within the ranks of the UPA, some of whom held high positions.
According to journalist and former fighter Leo Heiman, some Jews fought for the UPA, and others included medical personal.
These included Dr. Margosh, who headed UPA-West's medical service, Dr. Marksymovich, who was the Chief Physician of the UPA's officer school, and Dr. Abraham Kum, the director of an underground hospital in the Carpathians.
The latter individual was the recipient of the UPA's Golden Cross of Merit.
Some Jews who fled the ghettos for the forests were killed by members of the UPA.
According to Phillip Friedman, many Jews, particularly those whose skills were useful to UPA, were sheltered by them.
It has been claimed that the UPA sometimes executed its Jewish personnel, but Friedman evaluated such claims as either uncorroborated or mistaken.
However, it has been said by the historian Daniel Romanovsky that in late 1943, the commander of the UPA, Shukhevych, announced a verbal order to destroy the Poles, Jews and Gypsies with the exception to medical personnel, and later fighters executed personnel at the approach of the Soviet Army.
According to Herbert Romerstein, Soviet propaganda complained about Zionist membership in the UPA, and during the persecution of Jews in the early 1950s, they described the alleged connection between Jewish and Ukrainian nationalists.
One well-known claimed example of Jewish participation in the UPA was most likely a hoax, according to sources such as Friedman.
According to the report, Stella Krenzbach, the daughter of a rabbi and a Zionist, joined the UPA as a nurse and intelligence agent.
She is alleged to have written, "I attribute the fact that I am alive today and devoting all the strength of my thirty-eight years to a free Israel only to God and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army."
"I became a member of the heroic UPA on 7 November 1943."
"In our group I counted twelve Jews, eight of whom were doctors".
Later, Friedman concluded that Krenzbach was a fictional character, as the only evidence for her existence was in an OUN paper.
No one knew of such an employee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she supposedly worked after the war.
A Jew, Leiba Dubrovskii, pretended to be Ukrainian.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Holocaust
The OUN pursued a policy of infiltrating the German police to obtain weapons and training for fighters.
In that role, it helped the Germans to carry out the Holocaust.
Although most Jews were actually killed by Germans, the Ukrainian auxiliary police, working for the Germans, played a crucial supporting role in the liquidation of 200,000 Jews in Volhynia in the second half of 1942 although in isolated cases Ukrainian policemen also helped Jews to escape.
Most of the police deserted in the following spring and joined UPA.
Numerous accounts ascribe to the UPA a role in the killing of Ukrainian Jews under the German occupation.
According to Ray Brandon, co-editor of The Shoah in Ukraine, "Jews in hiding in Volhynia saw the UPA as a threat."
While anti-Semitism did not play a significant role in Ukrainian politics, with the first anti-Semitic ideology and acts traced back to the Russian Civil War, by 1940–41 the publications of Ukrainian terrorist organizations became explicitly anti-Semitic.
German documents of the period give the impression that Ukrainian ultranationalists were indifferent to the plight of the Jews and would either kill them or help them, whichever was more appropriate for their political goals.
According to John Paul Himka, OUN militias were responsible for a wave of anti-Jewish pogroms in Lviv in 1941, in what it was at the time occupied Poland, and other areas that claimed thousands of lives.
The OUN had repudiated pogroms but changed its stand when the Germans, with whom the OUN sought an alliance, demanded participation in them.
According to Unian.net, recently declassified documents have shown that the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) was most likely not strongly involved in anti-Jewish activities in 1941.
Jews played an important role in the Soviet partisan movement in Volhynia and participated in its actions.
According to Timothy D. Snyder, the Soviet partisans were known for their brutality by retaliating against entire villages suspected of working with the Germans, killing individuals deemed to be collaborators, and provoking the Germans to attack villages.
UPA would later attempt to match that brutality.
By early 1943, the OUN had entered into open armed conflict with Nazi Germany.
According to Ukrainian historian and former UPA soldier Lew Shankowsky, immediately upon assuming the position of commander of the UPA in August 1943, Roman Shukhevych issued an order banning participation in anti-Jewish activities.
No written record of this order, however, has been found.
In 1944, the OUN formally "rejected racial and ethnic exclusivity".
Nevertheless, Jews hiding from the Germans with Poles in Polish villages were often killed by UPA along with their Polish saviors, although in at least one case, they were spared as the Poles were murdered.
Despite the earlier anti-Jewish statements by the OUN, and its involvement in the killing of some Jews, there were cases of Jewish participation within the ranks of the UPA, some of whom held high positions.
According to journalist and former fighter Leo Heiman, some Jews fought for the UPA, and others included medical personal.
These included Dr. Margosh, who headed UPA-West's medical service, Dr. Marksymovich, who was the Chief Physician of the UPA's officer school, and Dr. Abraham Kum, the director of an underground hospital in the Carpathians.
The latter individual was the recipient of the UPA's Golden Cross of Merit.
Some Jews who fled the ghettos for the forests were killed by members of the UPA.
According to Phillip Friedman, many Jews, particularly those whose skills were useful to UPA, were sheltered by them.
It has been claimed that the UPA sometimes executed its Jewish personnel, but Friedman evaluated such claims as either uncorroborated or mistaken.
However, it has been said by the historian Daniel Romanovsky that in late 1943, the commander of the UPA, Shukhevych, announced a verbal order to destroy the Poles, Jews and Gypsies with the exception to medical personnel, and later fighters executed personnel at the approach of the Soviet Army.
According to Herbert Romerstein, Soviet propaganda complained about Zionist membership in the UPA, and during the persecution of Jews in the early 1950s, they described the alleged connection between Jewish and Ukrainian nationalists.
One well-known claimed example of Jewish participation in the UPA was most likely a hoax, according to sources such as Friedman.
According to the report, Stella Krenzbach, the daughter of a rabbi and a Zionist, joined the UPA as a nurse and intelligence agent.
She is alleged to have written, "I attribute the fact that I am alive today and devoting all the strength of my thirty-eight years to a free Israel only to God and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army."
"I became a member of the heroic UPA on 7 November 1943."
"In our group I counted twelve Jews, eight of whom were doctors".
Later, Friedman concluded that Krenzbach was a fictional character, as the only evidence for her existence was in an OUN paper.
No one knew of such an employee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she supposedly worked after the war.
A Jew, Leiba Dubrovskii, pretended to be Ukrainian.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UKRAINIAN INSURGENT ARMY
Ukrainian Insurgent Army, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reconciliation
During the following years the UPA was officially taboo in the Soviet Union, mentioned only as a terrorist organization.
Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, there have been heated debates about the possible award of official recognition to former UPA members as legitimate combatants, with the accompanying pensions and benefits due to war veterans.
UPA veterans have also striven to hold parades and commemorations of their own, especially in Western Ukraine.
This, in turn, led to opposition from Soviet Army veterans and some Ukrainian politicians, particularly from the south and east of the country.
Recently, attempts to reconcile former Armia Krajowa and UPA soldiers have been made by both the Ukrainian and Polish sides.
Individual former UPA members have expressed their readiness for mutual apology.
Some of the past soldiers of both organisations have met and asked for forgiveness for the past misdeeds.
Restorations of graves and cemeteries in Poland where fallen UPA soldiers were buried have been agreed to by the Polish side.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reconciliation
During the following years the UPA was officially taboo in the Soviet Union, mentioned only as a terrorist organization.
Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, there have been heated debates about the possible award of official recognition to former UPA members as legitimate combatants, with the accompanying pensions and benefits due to war veterans.
UPA veterans have also striven to hold parades and commemorations of their own, especially in Western Ukraine.
This, in turn, led to opposition from Soviet Army veterans and some Ukrainian politicians, particularly from the south and east of the country.
Recently, attempts to reconcile former Armia Krajowa and UPA soldiers have been made by both the Ukrainian and Polish sides.
Individual former UPA members have expressed their readiness for mutual apology.
Some of the past soldiers of both organisations have met and asked for forgiveness for the past misdeeds.
Restorations of graves and cemeteries in Poland where fallen UPA soldiers were buried have been agreed to by the Polish side.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UKRAINIAN INSURGENT ARMY
Ukrainian Insurgent Army, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2019 official veteran status
Late March 2019 former members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (and other living former members of Ukrainian irregular nationalist armed groups that were active during World War II and the first decade after the war) were officially granted the status of veterans.
This meant that for the first time they could receive veteran benefits, including free public transport, subsidized medical services, annual monetary aid, and public utilities discounts (and will enjoy the same social benefits as former Ukrainian soldiers who served in the Red Army of the Soviet Union).
There had been several previous attempts to provide former Ukrainian nationalist fighters with official veteran status, especially during the 2005–2009 administration of President Viktor Yushenko, but all failed.
Prior to December 2018 legally only former UPA members who "participated in hostilities against Nazi invaders in occupied Ukraine in 1941–1944, who did not commit crimes against humanity and were rehabilitated" were recognized as war veterans.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2019 official veteran status
Late March 2019 former members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (and other living former members of Ukrainian irregular nationalist armed groups that were active during World War II and the first decade after the war) were officially granted the status of veterans.
This meant that for the first time they could receive veteran benefits, including free public transport, subsidized medical services, annual monetary aid, and public utilities discounts (and will enjoy the same social benefits as former Ukrainian soldiers who served in the Red Army of the Soviet Union).
There had been several previous attempts to provide former Ukrainian nationalist fighters with official veteran status, especially during the 2005–2009 administration of President Viktor Yushenko, but all failed.
Prior to December 2018 legally only former UPA members who "participated in hostilities against Nazi invaders in occupied Ukraine in 1941–1944, who did not commit crimes against humanity and were rehabilitated" were recognized as war veterans.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UKRAINIAN INSURGENT ARMY
Ukrainian Insurgent Army, continued ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monuments for combatants
Without waiting for official notice from Kyiv, many regional authorities have already decided to approach the UPA's history on their own.
In many western cities and villages monuments, memorials and plaques to the leaders and troops of the UPA have been erected, including a monument to Stepan Bandera himself which opened in October 2007.
In eastern Ukraine's city of Kharkiv, a memorial to the soldiers of the UPA was erected in 1992.
In late 2006, the Lviv city administration announced the future transference of the tombs of Stepan Bandera, Yevhen Konovalets, Andriy Melnyk and other key leaders of the OUN/UPA to a new area of Lychakiv Cemetery specifically dedicated to Ukrainian nationalists.
In response, many southern and eastern provinces, although the UPA had not operated in those regions, have responded by opening memorials of their own dedicated the UPA's victims.
The first one, "The Shot in the Back", was unveiled by the Communist Party of Ukraine in Simferopol, Crimea in September 2007.
In 2008, one was erected in Svatove, Luhansk oblast, and another in Luhansk on 8 May 2010 by the city deputy, Arsen Klinchaev, and the Party of Regions.
The unveiling ceremony was attended by Vice Prime Minister Viktor Tykhonov, the leader of the parliamentary faction of the Pro-Russian Party of Regions Oleksandr Yefremov, Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin, Luhansk Regional Governor Valerii Holenko, and Luhansk Mayor Serhii Kravchenko.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monuments for combatants
Without waiting for official notice from Kyiv, many regional authorities have already decided to approach the UPA's history on their own.
In many western cities and villages monuments, memorials and plaques to the leaders and troops of the UPA have been erected, including a monument to Stepan Bandera himself which opened in October 2007.
In eastern Ukraine's city of Kharkiv, a memorial to the soldiers of the UPA was erected in 1992.
In late 2006, the Lviv city administration announced the future transference of the tombs of Stepan Bandera, Yevhen Konovalets, Andriy Melnyk and other key leaders of the OUN/UPA to a new area of Lychakiv Cemetery specifically dedicated to Ukrainian nationalists.
In response, many southern and eastern provinces, although the UPA had not operated in those regions, have responded by opening memorials of their own dedicated the UPA's victims.
The first one, "The Shot in the Back", was unveiled by the Communist Party of Ukraine in Simferopol, Crimea in September 2007.
In 2008, one was erected in Svatove, Luhansk oblast, and another in Luhansk on 8 May 2010 by the city deputy, Arsen Klinchaev, and the Party of Regions.
The unveiling ceremony was attended by Vice Prime Minister Viktor Tykhonov, the leader of the parliamentary faction of the Pro-Russian Party of Regions Oleksandr Yefremov, Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin, Luhansk Regional Governor Valerii Holenko, and Luhansk Mayor Serhii Kravchenko.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: UKRAINIAN INSURGENT ARMY
Ukrainian Insurgent Army, concluded ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monuments commemorating Polish victims
Polish survivors from Wołyn and Galicia who lived through the massacres, constructed monuments and memorial tables in the places where they settled after the war, such as Warsaw, Wrocław, Sanok and Kłodzko.
Commemoration in Ukraine
March of UPA veterans through Przemyśl
According to John Armstrong, "If one takes into account the duration, geographical extent, and intensity of activity, the UPA very probably is the most important example of forceful resistance to an established Communist regime prior to the decade of fierce Afghan resistance beginning in 1979... the Hungarian revolution of 1956 was, of course, far more important, involving to some degree a population of nine million... however it lasted only a few weeks."
"In contrast, the more-or-less effective anti-Communist activity of the Ukrainian resistance forces lasted from mid-1944 until 1950".
On 10 January 2008, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko submitted a draft law "on the official Status of Fighters for Ukraine's Independence from the 1920s to the 1990s".
Under the draft, persons who took part in political, guerrilla, underground and combat activities for the freedom and independence of Ukraine from 1920 to 1990 as part of or assisting the following:
Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO)
Karpatska Sich
OUN
UPA
Ukrainian Main Liberation Army
They will be recognised as war veterans.
In 2007, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) set up a special working group to study archive documents of the activity of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) to make public original sources.
Since 2006, the SBU has been actively involved in declassifying documents relating to the operations of Soviet security services and the history of liberation movement in Ukraine.
The SBU Information Centre provides an opportunity for scholars to get acquainted with electronic copies of archive documents.
The documents are arranged by topics (1932–1933 Holodomor, OUN/UPA Activities, Repression in Ukraine, Movement of Dissident).
Since September 2009, Ukrainian schoolchildren take a more extensive course of the history of the Holodomor and the fighters of the OUN and the UPA fighters.
Yushchenko took part in the celebration of the 67th anniversary of the UPA and the 65th anniversary of Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council on 14 October 2009.
To commemorate National Unity Day on 22 January 2010, Yushchenko awarded Bandera the Hero of Ukraine honor posthumously.
A district administrative court in Donetsk cancelled the presidential decree granting the honor to Bandera on 2 April 2010.
The lawyer Vladimir Olentsevych argued in a lawsuit that the honor is the highest state award that is granted exclusively to citizens of Ukraine.
Bandera was not a Ukrainian citizen, as he was killed in exile in 1959 before the 1991 Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.
On 16 January 2012, the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine upheld the presidential decree of 28 January 2010 "About recognition of OUN members and soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army as participants in struggle for independence of Ukraine" after it was challenged by the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, Nataliya Vitrenko, recognising the UPA as war combatants.
On 15 May 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a bill into law that provides "public recognition to anyone who fought for Ukrainian independence in the 20th century", including Ukrainian Insurgent Army combatants.
In Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zhytomyr, the UPA flag may be displayed on government buildings "on certain holidays".
In June 2017, the Kyiv City Council renamed the city's General Vatutin Avenue into Roman Shukhevych Avenue.
In December 2018, Poroshenko confirmed the status of veterans and combatants for independence of Ukraine for UPA fighters.
In late 2018, the Lviv Oblast Council decided to declare the year of 2019 to be the year of Bandera.
On 5 March 2021, the Ternopil City Council named the largest stadium in the city of Ternopil after Roman Shukhevych as the Roman Shukhevych Ternopil city stadium.
On 16 March 2021, the Lviv Oblast Council approved the renaming of their largest stadium after Roman Shukhevych.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Insurgent_Army
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monuments commemorating Polish victims
Polish survivors from Wołyn and Galicia who lived through the massacres, constructed monuments and memorial tables in the places where they settled after the war, such as Warsaw, Wrocław, Sanok and Kłodzko.
Commemoration in Ukraine
March of UPA veterans through Przemyśl
According to John Armstrong, "If one takes into account the duration, geographical extent, and intensity of activity, the UPA very probably is the most important example of forceful resistance to an established Communist regime prior to the decade of fierce Afghan resistance beginning in 1979... the Hungarian revolution of 1956 was, of course, far more important, involving to some degree a population of nine million... however it lasted only a few weeks."
"In contrast, the more-or-less effective anti-Communist activity of the Ukrainian resistance forces lasted from mid-1944 until 1950".
On 10 January 2008, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko submitted a draft law "on the official Status of Fighters for Ukraine's Independence from the 1920s to the 1990s".
Under the draft, persons who took part in political, guerrilla, underground and combat activities for the freedom and independence of Ukraine from 1920 to 1990 as part of or assisting the following:
Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO)
Karpatska Sich
OUN
UPA
Ukrainian Main Liberation Army
They will be recognised as war veterans.
In 2007, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) set up a special working group to study archive documents of the activity of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) to make public original sources.
Since 2006, the SBU has been actively involved in declassifying documents relating to the operations of Soviet security services and the history of liberation movement in Ukraine.
The SBU Information Centre provides an opportunity for scholars to get acquainted with electronic copies of archive documents.
The documents are arranged by topics (1932–1933 Holodomor, OUN/UPA Activities, Repression in Ukraine, Movement of Dissident).
Since September 2009, Ukrainian schoolchildren take a more extensive course of the history of the Holodomor and the fighters of the OUN and the UPA fighters.
Yushchenko took part in the celebration of the 67th anniversary of the UPA and the 65th anniversary of Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council on 14 October 2009.
To commemorate National Unity Day on 22 January 2010, Yushchenko awarded Bandera the Hero of Ukraine honor posthumously.
A district administrative court in Donetsk cancelled the presidential decree granting the honor to Bandera on 2 April 2010.
The lawyer Vladimir Olentsevych argued in a lawsuit that the honor is the highest state award that is granted exclusively to citizens of Ukraine.
Bandera was not a Ukrainian citizen, as he was killed in exile in 1959 before the 1991 Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.
On 16 January 2012, the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine upheld the presidential decree of 28 January 2010 "About recognition of OUN members and soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army as participants in struggle for independence of Ukraine" after it was challenged by the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, Nataliya Vitrenko, recognising the UPA as war combatants.
On 15 May 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a bill into law that provides "public recognition to anyone who fought for Ukrainian independence in the 20th century", including Ukrainian Insurgent Army combatants.
In Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zhytomyr, the UPA flag may be displayed on government buildings "on certain holidays".
In June 2017, the Kyiv City Council renamed the city's General Vatutin Avenue into Roman Shukhevych Avenue.
In December 2018, Poroshenko confirmed the status of veterans and combatants for independence of Ukraine for UPA fighters.
In late 2018, the Lviv Oblast Council decided to declare the year of 2019 to be the year of Bandera.
On 5 March 2021, the Ternopil City Council named the largest stadium in the city of Ternopil after Roman Shukhevych as the Roman Shukhevych Ternopil city stadium.
On 16 March 2021, the Lviv Oblast Council approved the renaming of their largest stadium after Roman Shukhevych.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Insurgent_Army