Speaker A
Dear friends, good day to you all, dear viewers of the "History Without Myths" channel.
Ukrainian historian Ivan Patryliak discusses Yevhen Konovalets, from his Zashkiv youth and WWI service to Sich Riflemen and the OUN founding.
Key Takeaways
- Konovalets's early life in Zashkiv was shaped by a teacher family and grassroots Ukrainian cultural activism.
- His WWI experience, including captivity, built the military and organizational foundation for his later leadership.
- The Sich Riflemen played a decisive role in Ukraine's 1917–1919 struggles, from anti-Bolshevik action to the anti-Hetman uprising.
- Konovalets's rise to prominence was tied to his nationalist convictions and his visibility in public events alongside leading Ukrainian figures.
- His later role as a founder of the OUN emerged from these earlier experiences in military and political struggle.
What the video covers
- Introduces Yevhen Konovalets, born 1891 in Zashkiv (Lviv region) to a family of teachers, with early involvement in Ukrainian educational societies such as Prosvita and Sokil.
- Describes his law studies at Lviv University and activism in the youth wing of the Ukrainian National Democrats.
- Covers WWI: failed attempt to join the Sich Riflemen, service in a Landwehr regiment, capture at Makivka in the Carpathians, and captivity near Tsaritsyn (Volgograd).
- Details his time in captivity, including contact with Andriy Melnyk and recruitment of Ukrainians from the Russian army.
- Recounts his role in suppressing the Bolshevik coup attempt in Kyiv in January 1918 and his growing public prominence.
- Explains the Sich Riflemen's role under Hetman Skoropadsky, their expansion, and their part in the anti-Hetman uprising and the battle of Motovylivka.
- Discusses Konovalets's mobilization for the fight for Lviv during the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR) conflict.
- Touches on the interwar period, including the OUN's relations with Czechoslovakia, Carpatho-Ukraine, and foreign intelligence services.
- Mentions the Soviet agent Pavel Sudoplatov as a related figure in the broader historical narrative.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Konovalets's Early Life
- 03:00Gymnasium, Education and Youth Activism
- 20:00Patriotic Work and Political Engagement in Lviv
- 27:00World War I Service and Capture at Makivka
- 34:00Captivity in Tsaritsyn and Contacts with Sich Riflemen
- 40:00The Bolshevik Coup Attempt and Kyiv in 1918
- 48:00Hetmanate, Sich Riflemen and the Anti-Hetman Uprising
- 60:00Fight for Lviv and the Interwar OUN Period
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
What was the background and early life of Yevhen Konovalets? Yevhen Konovalets was born in the village of Zashkiv in the Lviv region.
Speaker A
My name is Ivan Patryliak, and today we are going to talk about Colonel Yevhen Konovalets.
Speaker A
Obviously, the teaching career and the work of Mykhailo Konovalets as a school director significantly shaped Yevhen's early years. After finishing primary school, a preparatory school so to speak, Yevhen ended up in the gymnasium . After the gymnasium, which he
Speaker A
What was the background and early life of Yevhen Konovalets?
Speaker A
Yevhen was very active in terms of educational work. He was an active participant in Ukrainian educational societies in his home village. So, when he moved to Lviv as a student, he was offered to lead, to become a secretary
Speaker A
Yevhen Konovalets was born in the village of Zashkiv in the Lviv region.
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His ancestors were priests. However, Yevhen's father did not choose this priestly path and was a teacher.
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Obviously, the teaching career and the work of Mykhailo Konovalets as a school director significantly shaped Yevhen's early years.
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currents that existed in Lviv at that time, namely the national-democratic Ukrainian current. Konovalets became an activist of the youth wing of the Ukrainian National Democrats. And undoubtedly, he took part in all the main events of Ukrainian patriotic work
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After finishing primary school, a preparatory school, so to speak, Yevhen ended up in the gymnasium.
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What is known about Konovalets's participation in World War I and his time in Russian captivity? As always, wars break out unexpectedly. It was the same with World War I. Yevhen Konovalets, as a student, as a person who was obtaining higher education, was
Speaker A
After the gymnasium, which he finished in Lviv, 18 km from his native Zashkiv, Yevhen enrolled in the Faculty of Law at Lviv University.
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of volunteers. Out of 18,000 applications, 18,000 requests, only 2,500 were selected. Yevhen did not get into this group. Accordingly, he served in an ordinary Landwehr regiment— essentially a militia or territorial defense force created during the war, as one might call it today. Having
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However, it must be said that all this time, both during his gymnasium education and even during his primary school studies, Yevhen was very active in terms of educational work.
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near Tsaritsyn, present-day Volgograd in Russia. The camp, the Tsaritsyn camp —or more precisely, the camp at Chorny Yar—housed officers and soldiers of the Austrian army and the Hungarian Honvéd. However, for the most part, there were no Ukrainians in
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He was an active participant in Ukrainian educational societies in his home village.
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he established contacts with captured Ukrainian Sich Riflemen who were in the surrounding camps. There, he met a man with whom he would share many future experiences: Andriy Melnyk.
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So, when he moved to Lviv as a student, he was offered to lead, to become a secretary of the Prosvita society in the district.
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1918, reached Kyiv. Here began a new chapter in the biography of Yevhen Konovalets. A biography that made him famous throughout all of Ukraine.
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For us to clearly understand: Konovalets, who was born in 1891, even before World War I, was such an active young man that, in fact, through his efforts, the Sokil sports and fire-fighting society was organized in his native surroundings, and a whole series of reading rooms and Prosvita societies were opened in the villages around Zashkiv.
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as to recruit Ukrainians from the former Russian Imperial Army. The point is that Yevhen Konovalets, having become acquainted with the conditions and circumstances prevailing in the Ukrainized units of the Russian army, concluded that these conditions were not very favorable for the Ukrainian
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The fact is that the surrounding villages were, as a rule, Russophile.
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for the creation of a military unit that would be a reliable pillar for the Ukrainian Central Rada. A unit that would include both Galicians and those from the Dnieper region, but which would be exceptionally nationalistic, with a high level of national
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And therefore, a huge field of educational work opened up for Yevhen Konovalets.
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were attempting to stage in Kyiv. This enabled the proclamation of the Fourth Universal, and thereby made it possible for the Central Rada to conclude the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Undoubtedly, the units of the Sich Riflemen effectively covered the withdrawal of
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And he made use of this field.
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events. He became a person who was constantly in the lens of cinematographic cameras and photo cameras. We see him at many parades and at many celebrations. He is alongside Hrushevsky, Vynnychenko, and Petliura —that is, alongside the main figures
Speaker A
When Yevhen became a law student at Lviv University, he obviously also sought connections with the political student environment and chose one of the political student currents that existed in Lviv at that time, namely the national-democratic Ukrainian current.
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The Hetman coup in Ukraine opened a new chapter in the life of Yevhen Konovalets. Hetman Skoropadsky preserved the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen as a military unit. Moreover, during the period of the Skoropadsky Hetmanate , the Sich Riflemen were expanded into
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Konovalets became an activist of the youth wing of the Ukrainian National Democrats.
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from Kyiv and kept their politically active leaders away from the political struggle in Kyiv. But on the other hand , the Hetman was convinced that this unit, the Sich Riflemen regiment, was so reliable that it would protect all
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And undoubtedly, he took part in all the main events of Ukrainian patriotic work in Lviv at that time.
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such plans to form separate territorial corps and so on. And so, with the goal of concentrating arms, ammunition, clothing, and equipment—to organize it all somehow and to control it—he brought it all to giant warehouses in Bila Tserkva. It was being brought
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And the number one issue for students was the struggle for the opening of a Ukrainian university in Lviv.
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actively coalesce, mostly consisting of Ukrainian political forces that had once been part of the Central Council —that is, those forces that were more of a revolutionary-republican bent. And they were fully aware, the Directory that was being formed, it was fully
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And Yevhen Konovalets also became an active participant in this struggle.
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Konovalets. Obviously, making such a decision, to join the uprising, was not easy. Obviously, it was not easy.
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What is known about Konovalets's participation in World War I and his time in Russian captivity?
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their troops from the territory of Ukraine, the Hetman tried to find a way to coexist with the Entente, which was pushing him toward the White Guards.
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As always, wars break out unexpectedly.
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And the Sich Riflemen effectively become the primary force in this anti-Hetman uprising. It was they who crushed the main Hetman forces at Motovylivka. This was effectively the main battle of this civil, let's say, civil war or short-lived civil war.
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It was the same with World War I.
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the German troops to leave the territory of Ukraine. Well, we know that Hetman Skoropadskyi also left Ukraine along with the German troops, and the victorious armies, effectively those of Konovalets and the Directory, entered Kyiv. Obviously, January 1919 became a golden hour for Yevhen
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Yevhen Konovalets, as a student, as a person who was obtaining higher education, was obviously subject to mobilization.
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noted. At the end of 1918, right in the heat of the anti-Hetman uprising, delegates from Galicia, delegates from the ZUNR, reached out to Konovalets and his chief of staff, Andriy Melnyk, with a request to join the fight for Lviv.
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Subject to mobilization and training for a future officer rank, accelerated training, obviously, under wartime conditions.
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Lviv, lies through a free Kyiv. Without a free Kyiv, there cannot be a free Lviv. Accordingly, Konovalets chooses his fate and links his destiny to Dnieper Ukraine. He continues to fight in Dnieper Ukraine. In fact, from January 1919, his comrade from the Sich
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Yevhen himself tried to get into the then-forming Ukrainian Sich Riflemen legion.
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of Podillia and Southern Volhynia. And in 1919, this bitter retreat—the bitter retreat of late winter and spring of 1919—turns into a triumphant offensive in the summer of 1919, when the united Ukrainian armies approach Kyiv and actually enter the
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However, the Austrian government severely limited the number of volunteers.
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Ukrainian People's Republic. And in December 1919, when the Riflemen's Council took place, the Ukrainian troops were already in an absolutely dire situation, suffering from typhus, heavy losses, fighting against everyone , and completely surrounded by enemies.
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Out of 18,000 applications, or 18,000 requests, only 2,500 were selected.
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, accordingly had the right, were granted the right, to return home. And a portion, of course, especially the Galicians, moved back home. Some ended up in internment camps, others ended up in hospitals with typhus in the territories of Volhynia and Galicia.
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Yevhen did not get into this group.
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army of the Ukrainian People's Republic . But he also tried to be actively political. At one time, on behalf of the Riflemen's Council, he proposed to Petliura that a military dictatorship be created on the territory of Ukraine, that is, to dissolve the Directorate
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Accordingly, he served in an ordinary Landwehr regiment, essentially a militia or territorial defense force created during the war, as one might call it today.
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headquarters of the active army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. That is, effectively a triumvirate, a military dictatorship in the form of such a triumvirate. Obviously, this was not done out of a desire to seize power or profit, because, you know, dear friends
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Having completed accelerated officer training, Yevhen Konovalets found himself at the front of the First World War as a lieutenant.
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state, and they saw only one form of doing that: establishing a strict, rigid dictatorship. I would also like to note that Konovalets, during the 1919 period, when he was one of the most key and prominent figures in the
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During fierce fighting in the Carpathians at Makivka, Konovalets was taken prisoner by the Russians and transported to a prisoner-of-war camp near Tsaritsyn, present-day Volgograd in Russia.
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officers who took part in this shameful business. So Konovalets was a very active person in 1919, and he effectively tried to show his presence everywhere and do something for the benefit of Ukraine in those extremely difficult conditions. However, 1919,
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The camp, the Tsaritsyn camp, or more precisely, the camp at Chorny Yar, housed officers and soldiers of the Austrian army and the Hungarian Honvéd.
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departure of the main part or a portion of the main Ukrainian forces on a deep raid through the rear of the Whites and Reds, known as the First Winter Campaign, and the presence of another part of Ukrainian soldiers in
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However, for the most part, there were no Ukrainians in this camp.
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There, they became witnesses to Symon Petliura’s conclusion of the famous Warsaw Pact, the Warsaw Agreement, which effectively agreed to the transfer of their homeland, Galicia, under the rule of the newly formed or newly revived Polish state. It is quite
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Only a few individuals were Ukrainian.
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the Polish state’s support in the continued struggle for the independence of Dnieper Ukraine. It is clear that this was a difficult decision for Petliura, and it was hard for Konovalets to accept this decision. And in 1920 while in Prague, Konovalets and
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The majority of Ukrainians were held in neighboring camps.
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combat operations on the territory of Ukraine, tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers ended up in emigration, mostly in Central Europe. These people had invaluable combat experience. These people were motivated to continue the struggle for independence. At that time
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And Yevhen Konovalets, as an officer, had a certain degree of freedom of movement, including between the camps.
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moment, either due to internal uprisings or due to external intervention. And then the Ukrainian soldiers, the former Ukrainian combatants, would have to mobilize very quickly in order to continue the fight.
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It was in this way that, while still a prisoner, he established contacts with captured Ukrainian Sich Riflemen who were in the surrounding camps.
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in emigration. And on the other hand, the Ukrainian Military Organization created its own underground network on the territory of Western Ukraine, mostly in Galicia, which was then under Polish occupation, not yet recognized by the Entente countries. I would like
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There, he met a man with whom he would share many future experiences: Andriy Melnyk.
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former Austrian monarchy and, therefore , a prize from the point of view of international law, a military prize of the Entente. That is why they had to regulate the legal issues regarding who Galicia belonged to. After the war
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What was Konovalets known for while leading the Sich Riflemen during the Ukrainian Revolution?
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organization began to realize that things were heading toward a lasting peace, and that there would be no immediate uprising. There would be no immediate war either with Poland or with the Soviet Union, Soviet Russia.
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On the eve of the new year 1918, when the former Russian empire was celebrating Christmas, Konovalets and a group of Ukrainian officers managed to escape the camp and, in early January 1918, reached Kyiv.
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organization, and from 1924 it was transformed, beginning to work as the Ukrainian Military Organization itself, now as an underground structure, an underground diversionary intelligence structure, primarily directed against the Polish state, primarily against the Polish state, and later against the
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Here began a new chapter in the biography of Yevhen Konovalets.
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the Kharkiv government of Soviet Ukraine for the UVO in the struggle against the Polish state. There is even some evidence that the UVO received certain funding from Kharkiv for some time. Eventually, Moscow forbade these contacts, believing that Konovalets, in
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A biography that made him famous throughout all of Ukraine.
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interrupted. But at first, Konovalets even considered the possibilities. This was exactly the period of Ukrainization in Soviet Ukraine, a very open one. And many in the emigration truly perceived Soviet Ukraine as a kind of variant of a Ukrainian communist state. A
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Yevhen Konovalets was one of the initiators of the Galician-Bukovinian Kuren of Sich Riflemen, which was primarily intended to gather Ukrainian soldiers of the former Austro-Hungarian army who had been in Russian captivity and were in Kyiv at that time, as well as to recruit Ukrainians from the former Russian Imperial Army.
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intelligence noted, they had records that the Ukrainian Military Organization had a very extensive intelligence network that covered territory from Barcelona to Moscow. So in reality, obviously, they had organized this matter quite well.
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The point is that Yevhen Konovalets, having become acquainted with the conditions and circumstances prevailing in the Ukrainized units of the Russian army, concluded that these conditions were not very favorable for the Ukrainian cause.
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independent Ukraine, preferably within the borders encompassing the settlement area of the Ukrainian ethnos. In other words, this was called the Ukrainian Independent United State. This formula was formula number one. It was evident that this state, as believed, had to go
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Most officers in these units continued to hold pro-Russian, so-called "all-Russian" positions.
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Gradually, at the moment of stabilization, it would be possible to transition to various representative forms of government and so on. That is, the goal was not to create some kind of dictatorial state a priori. It was about a smooth transition in several
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There was a shortage of Ukrainian officers.
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the Ukrainian state as a certain balance between private ownership interests and state interests. Obviously, they saw this state as quite social, that is, with a high degree of social security for the population.
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The soldiers were subjected to devastating agitation by various political forces and parties, including the Bolsheviks.
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that they stood for positions—and Konovalets himself stood for the positions—of a national army, the creation of a national army, a national fleet, a national government, and national governing bodies. That is, without this division, because at that time, the separation into former
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And therefore, Konovalets and his associates advocated for the creation of a military unit that would be a reliable pillar for the Ukrainian Central Rada.
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of the future country must primarily work for its citizens. And the state must control this. And the vision of a person who believed that only through the efforts, first and foremost, of the entire people, the entire nation, could
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A unit that would include both Galicians and those from the Dnieper region, but which would be exceptionally nationalistic, with a high level of national consciousness among the rank and file and officers.
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Ukrainian state. And a very striking example here is precisely Konovalets' cooperation with the Lithuanian state and the Republic of Lithuania.
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In fact, that is exactly what happened.
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the Ukrainian Military Organization? The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists was born, created, and emerged at the very beginning in January-February 1929. Well, at least that was when the first Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists took place in Vienna. which adopted the main
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And essentially, in January 1918, Yevhen Konovalets and his Sich Riflemen, together with other units of the Central Rada, suppressed the coup d'état that the Bolsheviks were attempting to stage in Kyiv.
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struggle, that is, sabotage. Intelligence, acts of terror against Polish statesmen, military officers, police, underground and illegal agitation, and so on. However, from the mid-1920s, after the appearance of Dontsov's books on "Nationalism," it gained particular popularity among the Ukrainian community outside Soviet
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This enabled the proclamation of the Fourth Universal, and thereby made it possible for the Central Rada to conclude the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
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itself socialist had nothing to do on the Ukrainian political stage, in the second half of the 1920s everyone was infatuated with nationalism. Everyone suddenly started becoming nationalists.
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Undoubtedly, the units of the Sich Riflemen effectively covered the withdrawal of the Central Rada from Kyiv in February 1918, that year.
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previous stage of the struggle for national independence. And so, various groups, small groups, and unions that positioned themselves as nationalist in their names began to appear. They emerged both on the territory of Polish-occupied Ukraine and within the community of Ukrainian emigrants in
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These same Sich Riflemen units were among the first to return to Kyiv in March of 1918, when the Bolsheviks were leaving and retreating from Kyiv.
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military organization, the Ukrainian Military Organization, and create a single Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. At first, they managed to achieve the creation of the SOUN, the Union of Organizations of Ukrainian Nationalists, because it was a lengthy process that took several years. A
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So, Konovalets was right here at the forefront of events.
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As a rule, in politics, Ukrainians only agree to divide. But here it happened, the miracle was accomplished.
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He became a person who was constantly in the lens of cinematographic cameras and photo cameras.
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Galicia. These young people saw it as: when the OUN is created, the UVO disappears. So the UVO disappears. And the OUN effectively takes over all the illegal work and the entire illegal network. The OUN conducts combat and intelligence operations, carries out
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We see him at many parades and at many celebrations.
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an example of Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army. That is, they initially conceived the OUN as an umbrella, as political cover for the activities of the UVO, that is, as a legal structure that could work legally on the principles of nationalism,
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He is alongside Hrushevsky, Vynnychenko, and Petliura, that is, alongside the main figures of the Ukrainian revolution.
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zealous guys from Galicia made the situation reach the point as they saw it. And already in the early 30s, the UVO effectively dissolved into the OUN network. It transformed into the military, combat, and intelligence referents of the OUN regional executive
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Why did Yevhen Konovalets turn against Pavlo Skoropadsky in late 1918 and why did he demobilize the Sich Riflemen in late 1919?
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OUN regional executive in Western Ukraine. And to a large extent, I say that the OUN adopted the methods of the UVO. The only thing that needs to be said, which very seriously distinguished the OUN from the UVO in
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The Hetman coup in Ukraine opened a new chapter in the life of Yevhen Konovalets.
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officially banned structure. The OUN acted through legal structures, military-sports societies, Prosvita, and so on. On one hand, it spread its influence among the youth, and on the other, it conducted mass agitation, attracting a large number of people to
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Hetman Skoropadsky preserved the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen as a military unit.
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consider the OUN an authoritarian organization, where the principle of " leaderism" existed? It is obvious that in the 1930s the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists was indeed based to a large extent on the authority of Konovalets. Konovalets was recognized
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Moreover, during the period of the Skoropadsky Hetmanate, the Sich Riflemen were expanded into a separate regiment.
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conflict between the OUN regional representatives in Galicia and the OUN members in exile reached a boiling point. And only with his authority was Konovalets able to extinguish this confrontation. Therefore, undoubtedly, in this sense, the OUN was an organization based on the authority of
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And as the Hetman needed reliable soldiers who had an appropriate level of national consciousness, he sent the Sich Riflemen to Bila Tserkva.
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"glory to the leader," and so on. These things were used, but gradually, gradually, er, it must be said that, er , all this external paraphernalia was fading away, coming to naught. And the external fascination with this paraphernalia faded away, because it
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Why to Bila Tserkva?
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Like, "Be prepared, always prepared." Or the "Za dom spremni" used by the Croats, and so on. Therefore, this was all widely used during that period. And the OUN was no outlier here either.
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On one hand, this, so to speak, somewhat distanced the Sich Riflemen from Kyiv and kept their politically active leaders away from the political struggle in Kyiv.
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with the interwar Lithuanian Republic. It all started back in 1919-1920. Lithuania was in conflict with the newly emerged Polish state. Initially, Lithuania lost the Vilnius region to Poland, meaning its capital city of Vilnius, or as the Poles called it, "
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But on the other hand, the Hetman was convinced that this unit, the Sich Riflemen regiment, was so reliable that it would protect all the property located in Bila Tserkva.
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in fact, almost until the eve of World War II, Lithuania and Poland had no diplomatic relations. Therefore, the Lithuanians were interested in establishing contacts with structures and organizations that, well, let's say , opposed the Polish state. And here,
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For Bila Tserkva was designated by Hetman Skoropadsky as the main site for concentrating military property in Ukraine for the future deployment of full-fledged Ukrainian armed forces.
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in 1928, Lithuania was celebrating the tenth anniversary of its independence. Yevhen Konovalets was invited to this tenth anniversary and was present on the podium with honorary heads of state and honored guests. Er, and it was not in vain, because the Ukrainian Military
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We know that Skoropadsky did indeed have such plans to form separate territorial corps and so on.
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this so-called remnant "Kovno Republic, " that is, the annexation of Lithuania by Poland. And it was the intelligence branch of the Ukrainian Military Organization that managed to obtain this data. It was passed to Lithuania, it was passed to the British, and
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And so, with the goal of concentrating arms, ammunition
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, Yevhen Konovalets is honored in Lithuania. It is also obvious that Yevhen Konovalets and his associates were looking for states interested in supporting the Ukrainian cause in Europe. I mentioned that they even reached out at one time to the
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Bolsheviks in Kharkiv, to the Ukrainian Bolsheviks, for cooperation, supposedly in the struggle against the Poles. But the second important enemy for interwar Poland was Germany. The Weimar German Republic. Germany was extremely weakened after the First World War. It
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practically had no fully-fledged army, no fully-fledged intelligence agencies, but still, Germany was Germany. It was a large country with a huge population, a country with a huge economy and huge industry, great military potential, and a vast number of people who had been
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through the fronts of the First World War, meaning they had colossal combat experience. Therefore, it is clear that Poland and Germany—and a large part of Germany's pre-war lands, the lands of the pre-war German Empire, had passed to post-war Poland—naturally
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had such complicated relations. Complicated relations. That is why the UVO also cooperated closely with Weimar Germany in the 1920s. Mostly, it was cooperation in terms of intelligence and funding. Meaning, in exchange for intelligence data, certain funding was received from the German state.
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Likewise, Yevhen Konovalets, especially in the mid-1930s, around 1934-1935, sought approaches to Britain. An extremely important moment that we must remember is the mission of Yevhen Liakhovych to Britain. The thing is that the mid-1930s are a very interesting period in the history of
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Central and Eastern Europe. And at the beginning of 1934, Poland and Germany conclude a treaty on peace, friendship, non-aggression, and so on. Accordingly, the British were somewhat alarmed by the whole situation, because Britain viewed Poland as its outpost against
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Germany in the East, in Eastern Europe. And here was such a rapprochement, not foreseen, not foreseen by the British earlier. And during this period, the Ukrainian question also emerges on the agenda of Europe, of Western Europe and Britain, not least because Ukrainian
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political forces in Poland find common ground with Jewish political circles in Poland, who, like the Ukrainians—just as the Ukrainian community and the Jewish community—suffer oppression from the Polish state, suffering oppression and restrictions. And it was largely through Jewish representation,
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Jewish parties and organizations that were already in Britain, that OUN members tried to reach the highest circles, including the British Parliament, and they managed to reach the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament in their contacts with the British. Well, the only
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problem was that the British could not, in any way, first of all, agree to work with a group of people who were openly fighting against Poland, which was still their formal ally in Europe. On the other hand, the British did not
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know what this Ukrainian nationalism was, whether they would go along with the Germans, because these nationalists were radical, like Nazis, or whether they would jump over to the German camp ? Because 1934, the signing of the treaty between Poland and Germany,
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marked the fact that the Germans expelled all OUN activists from German territory at Poland's request.
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Ukrainians concentrated either in Czechoslovakia, or in Austria, or in France and Belgium. And accordingly, it was a very interesting moment when the OUN nearly ended up in the Allied sphere, and British intelligence was very actively interested in Ukrainian
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affairs at the time, including the activities of the OUN, but they never managed to take that decisive step toward the OUN. Likewise, another very important vector, a very important vector, was Italy. In Italy, first of all, in Rome, lived a member of the
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former Central Rada and now a member of the OUN leadership, Yevhen Onatsky. A man who had a small business in Italy.
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Yes, he had a house there that was effectively a center of Ukrainian life, as the Greek Catholic Church in Rome had quite lively connections, Ukrainian students, and so on. And Yevhen Onatsky actively observed Italy, because this was the very period when the fascist
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state was being built in Italy. He wrote his so-called "Letters from Rome, " where he spoke very critically about the fascist Italian state, tried to analyze what was happening in Italy very critically, and pointed out where the ideas of fascism could be adopted,
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where they were categorically unsuitable for Ukraine, and so on. So, he thought quite critically in this sense. And most importantly, structures like the Ustaše were also based in Italy after the failed Velebit uprising . And these fighters, let's say, for
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the independence of Croatia, the right-wing radical nationalists, mostly ended up in Italy. And there, the Italians actively supported them financially, provided territory for their camps, and so on. It is known that in the 30s, a number of OUN
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militants also underwent training in these Ustaše camps that were located in Italy. You see, we have to understand that the UVO, and later the OUN, tried to find any loophole, any opportunity to get support from foreign states, to get the chance to train
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people in military affairs, to get financial aid, and to get the opportunity to print press. For instance, the "Surma" was printed in Lithuania and for a long time was smuggled illegally into the territory of Western Ukraine. Also Czechoslovakia
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. In Czechoslovakia, there was, you see , a certain degree of neutrality between the OUN and the state authorities. Meaning the OUN did not actively build a network in Czechoslovakia that would work against the Czechoslovak state. Right? And so
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it operated in Czechoslovakia legally. And only at the moment of the actual collapse of Czechoslovakia, after the Munich/Sudeten crisis, the OUN began to cooperate with the autonomous Carpatho-Ukrainian government and thus began working against the Czechoslovak state. But in the 20s and 30s, it was a
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very good staging ground where Ukrainian organizations were based, and the Prague government didn't bother them, and they didn't work against the Prague government, despite the fact that Czechoslovakia controlled part of the Ukrainian territories. How was Yevhen Konovalets killed?
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The death of Yevhen Konovalets is directly linked to his attempts to spread the UVO underground, and later the OUN underground, to the territory of Soviet Ukraine. It was his, well, dream, his mission, if you will. He knew this region of Central and Eastern
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Ukraine well. He spent several years here during the Ukrainian revolution. And he had quite a few people left here —acquaintances friends former officers of the Ukrainian army. It was through them that Konovalets tried to establish an underground struggle on
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the territory of Greater Ukraine. However, he could not know how closely the Soviet state security organs were looking after all these former, so to speak, people. How much they controlled , how much they monitored the correspondence and every movement of
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these people. Consequently, Konovalets ended up in this trap, which the Soviet special services had prepared for him.
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One of the former officers of the Ukrainian army, a Galician named Khomyak, who had already been recruited by the Soviet authorities—by the Soviet special services—under the pseudonym "Lebid"(Swan). He, in fact, started—in his name, this game with Konovalets began. He actually began
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sending documents to the leadership, to Konovalets, stating that an underground existed here in Central Ukraine, in Eastern Ukraine, that an organization existed; they prepared fake reports and transmitted fake underground press. And at one fine moment, this agent of the
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Soviet special services arrived in the West and brought with him a certain Petro Valiukh, er, Pavlo Valiukh, excuse me, who gained trust within the organization and received the pseudonym "Pavlus." He was, in a way, a merchant navy sailor, meaning he could sail and
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travel outside the Soviet Union, beyond that Iron Curtain. Accordingly, he was used as a courier to deliver press, instructions, and so on, to the supposed underground—this fake underground movement within Ukraine.
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Valyukh was actually Pavel Sudoplatov, a well-known Soviet saboteur, essentially a hitman like those spire-lovers who travel all over the world to places like Salisbury and so on. Meaning he was essentially performing the exact same job. And this Pavel, Pavel Valyukh, who used the
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pseudonym "Pavlus," who was in reality Pavel Sudoplatov and had worked against Ukrainian organizations since the 1920 s—since the early 20 s—spoke Ukrainian well and was originally from Ukraine himself. It was he who, on the orders of the top political leadership
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of the Soviet Union, carried out the assassination of Konovalets—a successful one, as there had been several failed attempts on Konovalets ' life, but this one succeeded. An explosive device was constructed, disguised as a box of chocolates, since Konovalets was fond of chocolate. And
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accordingly, as a gift from Ukraine— from "Greater Ukraine"—this box was handed over, containing an explosive mechanism that would trigger if it were turned into a vertical position. So, while Konovalets and Valyukh—that is, Sudoplatov—were talking in a café in
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Rotterdam, the box lay on the table and the mechanism did not activate. When they finished their conversation, Sudoplatov handed over the supposed reports from Soviet Ukraine, left the café, and said he was rushing to his ship to sail away. He headed for his
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ship, while Konovalets finished his coffee, smoked a cigarette, and went out onto the street, taking the package , let's say, into a vertical position, and seconds later, he was blown to pieces. In fact, only his head and the
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remains of his torso were buried in the Rotterdam cemetery. Yes, on May 23, 1938, Yevhen Konovalets passed into eternity. He passed into eternity, evidently to become a symbol. Today, Yevhen Konovalets undoubtedly belongs to the pantheon of fighters for
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independence, to those who bridge the first liberation struggle and the second liberation struggle, connecting these two stages of history. Of Ukraine —the stage of revolution and the stage of interwar events, when Ukraine with all its might, when Ukrainian
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patriots with all their might tried to find ways to break free from the shackles of partition and the shackles of statelessness, into which the failed struggle for independence in 1917–21 had driven Ukraine. years. All the best . Don't forget to watch the "History
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without Myths" channel.
Topics:Yevhen KonovaletsSich RiflemenUkrainian historyWorld War IUkrainian National RevolutionOUNZashkivHetman SkoropadskyZUNRUkrainian nationalism
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