Another Ukrainian Nazi Glorified by Zelenskyy

Oct. 2, 2023, (EIRNS)—Kiev has “renamed a military unit in honor of Yevhen Konovalets, the fascist sympathizer who led the Ukrainian nationalist insurgency in Poland during the 1920s. The ‘honorary title’ was bestowed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week,” according to RT.

“According to a presidential decree published by Zelenskyy’s office, the 131st reconnaissance battalion of the army was given its new name as part of events connected with the Day of Defenders of Ukraine, which was marked on Sunday.

“Konovalets was a Galician-born Austrian veteran of World War I. He was peripherally involved in the short-lived secessionist Ukrainian People’s Republic in the late 1910s.

“In 1920, Konovalets moved to Czechoslovakia, where he and other Ukrainian nationalists with combat experience founded the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO), a paramilitary organization that was involved in the armed fight in what is now Western Ukraine.

“The insurgency conducted assassination attacks against Polish officials, as well as supposed Ukrainian collaborators who supported Warsaw’s sovereignty over Galicia. The UVO existed until 1929, when it merged with other radical nationalist and fascist groups into the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Then based in Switzerland, Konovalets served as its first leader.

“The UVO’s terrorist activities against Poland were partially financed by Germany’s Abwehr military intelligence. Konovalets maintained contact with various fascist organizations in Europe and personally met Adolf Hitler in the early 1930s.... Konovalets was assassinated in Rotterdam in 1938 by a Soviet intelligence agent.”

On Oct. 1, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Zelenskyy’s decree “yet more confirmation of the Nazi nature of the Kiev regime,” writes RT.