Ukrainian Insurgent Army veterans mark anniversary of its founding

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) veterans and thousands of their supporters succeeded in commemorating the 64th anniversary of its founding on October 14 without interference from hundreds of violent-prone agitators, largely from the Communist and Progressive Socialist parties.

Although separate scuffles and fights broke out, more than 3,000 Kyiv police officers provided heavy security for the Ukrainian patriots, setting up metal barricades and denying the agitators any access to Independence Square, where the commemorative events began.

"Everything is in order, and there haven't been any confrontations," Oleh Tiahnybok, the event's leader, said during the commemoration. "The provocateurs were sectioned off, and possibly even barred from entering Ukraine, since we were expecting provocateurs and thugs from Russia."

Mr. Tiahnybok's All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda, the leading nationalist force in Ukraine, organized the day's events with the Kyiv Regional Brotherhood of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-Ukrainian Insurgent Army (OUN-UPA), which was formed to fight against both the German Nazi and Soviet Russian invaders in order to secure Ukraine's independence.

Though police provided the necessary protection, the patriots had little support from the government, either on the national or the local level.

The prior day, a Kyiv district judge ruled that neither the patriots nor the pro-Soviet/pro-Russian demonstrators had the right to be on Independence Square, which had been sealed off on October 14.

The square had been the heavily publicized meeting place for the patriots who gathered there nevertheless, and riot police opted to set up a barricade sectioning them off rather than evict them.

Judge Natalia Buzhak reached her decision despite the fact that the patriotic groups had submitted their request on September 13, a full month ahead of the planned commemoration, which falls on St. Mary the Protectress Day, a widely observed Ukrainian holy day.

Pro-Soviet forces submitted their request only a week prior to the date.

Although they had a pretext of commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Nuremburg trials, their lawyers stated their intent was to prevent the UPA veterans' commemoration.

The judge was merely carrying out President Viktor Yushchenko's incoherent politics, said Oleksander Bashuk, a lawyer with the Svoboda political party.

"This was a Solomon's decision, which is [emblematic of] Ukraine's multi-vector approach and decay," he said.

Judge Buzhak didn't base her decision on the law or any political motivations, Mr. Bashuk said. Instead, the decision attempted to find an administratively convenient resolution to a conflict. "Any court decision has to have a legal foundation," Mr. Bashuk said. " 'I'm a judge so I made this decision' is something only Solomon could have done because he was a king."

Despite the court order, more than 300 patriots managed to secure a section of Independence Square at the arch of St. Michael the Archangel after Svoboda organizers arrived at 10 p.m. the prior night to claim the space.

At about 2 a.m., the police decided to let them remain after a mild stand-off, Mr. Bashuk said. "We stood there the whole night," he added.

By sunrise, Independence Square looked like a war zone under martial law, as metal barricades lined with riot police blocked access from every major roadway.

From both ends of the Khreschatyk, up to 1,000 pro-Russian agitators, including Communists led by Petro Symonenko and Progressive Socialists led by Natalia Vitrenko, collected at the barricades where they were blocked by police.

They gradually grew furious that they weren't allowed onto Independence Square to attack the patriots and nationalists.

Many of the agitators, particularly older women, were carrying sticks, icons or other objects that could be used as weapons. Young men donned ski masks.

"Under President Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine has become a type of country where Banderites and fascist accomplices feel free," read one flier. "Shame and damnation to the neo-Banderites!"

Yelling "Fascists!" and waving Communist and Donetsk Republic flags, they attacked anyone they perceived to be a Ukrainian patriot or nationalist. As a result, innocent bystanders were hurt.

"I stood nearby, and when these boys attacked, I got a stick to my head," said Oleksander Zolotariov, a Kyiv resident who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I went to the side. Afterwards, I saw a person lying on the asphalt being kicked, and I tried to pull him out of there. Luckily, the police had arrived," he noted.

Protesters said they were compelled to come to Independence Square to protest the presence of those who collaborated with German Nazis and committed vicious crimes against the Soviet people. This is the common view of the UPA that Soviet propaganda instilled in its citizens.

"There won't be any reconciliation because they shot their own people in the back and knifed them," said Natalia Kuzmenko, 40, a medical worker and a Communist.

"People were trying to live a new life, and they were merciless to Komsomol members and Communists. They tormented Jews, Poles, Russians and anyone who didn't think like they did," she added.

As the agitators lost their patience with police, they began swinging their homespun weapons at them and tearing down the metal barricades. One police officer suffered injury to his eyes and nasal canal when a Progressive Socialist sprayed tear gas in an effort to break through a barricade.

Attempts to break past the police dressed in riot gear failed, however, and 56 demonstrators were arrested, mostly from the pro-Russian side. Among them, 25 were arrested for anti-police actions while 31 were arrested for hooliganism.

Meanwhile, UPA veterans and their supporters gathered at St. Michael's arch, waved flags of patriotic political parties and sang war hymns, bellowing the words, "Don't cry my girl, he gave his life for Ukraine."

Just after 10 a.m. Mr. Tiahnybok addressed the supporters, urging them to sign a petition demanding that the president sign an order recognizing the UPA as a force that fought for Ukrainian independence and making St. Mary the Protectress Day the national holiday for Ukraine's armed forces.

He also urged them to refrain from reacting violently to the pro-Soviet and pro-Russian agitators. "I propose that we don't give into any provocations, and peacefully and honorably celebrate this distinct, grand holiday and honor Ukrainian heroes," Mr. Tiahnybok said.

UPA veterans alongside Orthodox and Catholic priests led a procession up Mykhailivska Street to the Holodomor monument at St. Michael Square, where they placed flowers and prayed.

Among those joining the procession were members of the Kharkiv-based Patriots of Ukraine citizens' organization, Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists paramilitary soldiers, as well as individuals wanting to express their support.

"I am a Kyivite and a Russian, but Ukraine is my land regardless of my ethnicity," said Oleksander Berendeyev, 49, a mechanic. "Ukraine is my homeland regardless if I'm Russian or Jewish. Ukraine needs to be defended, and some order needs to be implemented."

By the time the procession reached St. Sophia Square, the crowd had swelled to about 2,500 UPA supporters, including members of various Kozak organizations that took the opportunity of St. Mary the Protectress Day to bless initiates.

Father Serhii Tkachuk of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate joined Ukrainian Catholic and other Orthodox priests in leading a moleben service honoring the more than 50,000 UPA soldiers who died in the struggle for an independent Ukraine.

Leaders of patriotic and nationalistic groups criticized the government for failing to grant the UPA recognition, failing to make St. Mary the Protectress Day a national holiday and failing to take steps to educate Ukrainian schoolchildren about the role the UPA played in World War II.

National Deputy Lev Lukianenko, a former Soviet political prisoner, said the law is the basis for Ukraine's current struggle against its enemies, including the Constitution of Ukraine, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international law.

"In a peaceful way, we were able to achieve what our two armed struggles attempted throughout the 20th century," he said. "To great regret, the peaceful means of struggle didn't provide the means to destroy those who are deeply rooted enemies of the Ukrainian independent nation. And today in the 21 century, there are a lot of them in Ukraine."

An armed struggle against these enemies may or may not have been successful as the Russian Federation remained a military threat, Mr. Lukianenko said.

Therefore, patriotic forces foresaw upon Ukraine's independence that these enemies would impede the nation's rebirth, progress and development, he continued. These enemies were evident on Khreschatyk that very day.

Mr. Lukianenko said he's been trying to pass a bill granting government recognition to all armed forces that fought for an independent Ukraine, but Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Moroz and the Communists have acted in obstruction.

"We live in a paradoxical country: using economic and political freedoms are those very same Communists who enabled their sons to become wealthy capitalists," he said. "At the same time, the Russian empire's judgment upon an independent Ukraine lingers regarding these fighters for Ukraine. This is laughter in the face of logic and normal understanding."

Nevertheless, Ukrainians are more conscious with every passing day that the nation's future depends upon a Ukrainian Ukraine, Mr. Lukianenko said.

In his remarks to the gathering, Mr. Tiahnybok criticized the Yushchenko administration for failing to make any progress in granting government recognition to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

Unfortunately, those in Ukraine's government view the nation as a successor to Soviet Ukraine rather than the Ukrainian National Republic, Western Ukrainian National Republic or the Carpatho-Ukrainian state.

Mr. Yushchenko has the full right to issue a presidential order recognizing UPA as a force that fought for Ukrainian independence. "It would take the president only three seconds to take a pen and sign this order," Mr. Tiahnybok said, holding a copy of an order prepared by the Svoboda party.

It called for recognizing the national liberation struggle of the OUN-UPA for Ukrainian independence; granting UPA veterans status as fighters for Ukraine's freedom; making St. Mary the Proctectress Day the official holiday for Ukraine's armed forces and canceling the February 23, 1999, presidential order creating Defenders of the Motherland Day.

He called for opening Ukraine's archives and criticized the Yushchenko administration for allowing a Communist Party member, Olha Ginsburg, to become appointed as director of the State Committee on Archives.

He said he suspected this was done to destroy any remaining evidence of Communist crimes in order to prevent any future lustration of Communist Party members.

"The people need the truth," Mr. Tiahnybok said. "Schools and higher education institutions need to teach the true history of the UPA and Ukraine, not what was taught through the prism of the Kremlin."

President Yushchenko didn't attend any UPA-related events on October 14. Instead, he and his wife traveled to his home village of Khoruzhivka, where they visited a new home for orphans, placed flowers at a grave of Holodomor victims and visited the grave of Mr. Yushchenko's mother, who passed away last year.

He issued a presidential order that day insisting that the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada consider rehabilitating the soldiers of the OUN-UPA. As president, he doesn't have the authority to recognize UPA, he stated.

"This conflict is caused by the perverted knowledge of history," Mr. Yushchenko said, adding that it must be resolved as soon as possible. "We must give answers to the question of historical justice and pay tribute to every fighter for this land."

In response to the attempts by Communists to interrupt the UPA commemoration events, the Svoboda party announced it has organized a procession in Kyiv on November 7 honoring victims of Communist repressions. November 7 was the Soviet holiday marking the start of the October Revolution of 1917, because it took place when Russia and Ukraine still abided by the Julian calendar.

The procession will begin at the Arsenal metro station, lead down Hrushevsky Street along the Khreschatyk to the monument to Vladimir Lenin across from the Bessarabskyi Market.

There, a rally will be held to call for the removal of the statue of the "executioner of the Ukrainian people," Mr. Tiahnybok said.

"We will also begin measures to ban the Communist ideology in Ukraine," Mr. Tiahnybok said. "It's necessary to conduct a second Nuremburg trial against the Communists."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 22, 2006, No. 43, Vol. LXXIV

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