Party of Regions one step away from recognizing UPA

October14200818:23

With the archive materials being declassified, we can learn the truth about Ukraine's past history. However, the threat of distorting history, praising some and forgetting others not favored by the current regime is growing, PR lawmaker Vadym Kolesnychenko believes in the article he sent to ZIK Oct. 14.

In his article, titled «Ukraine's liberation and Bandera movement», he complaints that the figure of guerrilla commander Maksym Borovets (alias Taras Bulba) was undeservedly forgotten in Ukraine.

«In WW II, units led by this commander successfully fought on many fronts – against the Soviets, Germans and OUN nationalists, » the PR lawmaker writes. For this, Taras Bulba was promoted to the rank of a general by the Ukrainian People's Republic.

It was Taras Bulba-Borovets who, on orders from UPR Pres Levytsky organized guerrilla units named the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in June-June of 1941, V. Kolesnychenko continues.

«Taras Bulba condemned the declaration of independence of June 30, 1941 by OUN (Banderites) in Lviv when Germans were already in the city. Such declaration did not get the support of Ukrainians, Kolesnychenko claims, and annuled the 4th Universal of Jan. 22, 1918 by Tsentralna Rada which declared the independence of Ukraine soon to be recognized by many countrie. In so doing, the Banderites cancelled the legal declaration of Ukraine's independence, he adds.

Vadym Kolesnychenko focuses on the Olevska Republic set up on Aug. 21, 1941 in the Slutsk-Homel-Zhytomyr triangle as a result of UPA successful battles with the Soviet army. Its capital was located in Olevsk. UPA established a liberal regime in the republic. « In the areas controlled by our military administration, Maksym Borovets writes in his memoirs, not a single Pole or Jew was robbed or shot. It stemmed from our committment to protect the lives and property of the republic's populace. »

«The spring of 1943 saw a flare-up of hostilities between the Banderites and UPA. Remembering the bitter experience of the liberation movement in 1918-1921, UNR President Andrij Levytsky banned any military operations, with UPA engaging merely in defensive operations against the Banderites and Nazies.

In the spring of 1943, T. Bulba reorganized his troops, giving up the name of UPA and renaming his army as UNRA, Ukrainian Nationalist Revolutionary Army. In the fall of 1943, Borovets went on a secret trip to Warsaw where he was arrested by Gestapo and put in a concentration camp for one year. His army gradually disintegrated, with many fighters siding with Bandera-led UPA and continueing fighting the Communists for 10 more years. Maksym Borovets lived in Germany till 1947, then emigrated to Canada where he died in 1981.

Vadym Kolesnychenko complained in his article that the r?le of Borovets-led UPA was forgotten, amid all recent campaings to commemorate the fighters for Ukraine's independence.

«It is quite clear that Borovets-led UPA activities disagree with modern political projects aimed at glorification of Bandera-led and Melnyk-led OUN units. Most probably, Kolesnychenkmo opines, the Taras Bulba (Borovets) page does not fit with ideological tasted of the current Ukrainian regime, the Regions lawmaker sums up.