Ukraine negotiating return of Yevhen Konovalets' remains – Zelenskyy
The Ukrainian government is continuing work on transferring the burials of fighters for state independence to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday.
"Now such a process has begun regarding Colonel Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofiya. Significant, respected Ukrainians of the 20th century. Decisions are being prepared regarding Colonel Yevhen Konovalets and other strong historical figures. The Ukrainian people deserve their historical memory, and we are strengthening this true memory," the president said during an evening address.
Yevhen Konovalets was a colonel of the UNR Army, commander of the Sich Riflemen, and the founder and first head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Under current Ukrainian legislation, he is classified as a fighter for the independence of Ukraine in the 20th century.
Konovalets was killed on May 23, 1938, by Soviet foreign intelligence agent Pavel Sudoplatov and buried at the Crooswijk Cemetery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The Cabinet of Ministers on May 15 ordered the reburial of the remains of Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofiya Fedak-Melnyk in Ukraine on the territory of the National Military Memorial Cemetery.
An exhumation ceremony for the remains of OUN head Melnyk and his wife took place in Luxembourg on May 19.
The Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) in Kyiv said that memorial services will be held on May 22-24 in connection with the arrival of the remains of Melnyk and his wife in Ukraine. The reburial in the Pantheon of prominent Ukrainians at the National Military Memorial Cemetery will take place on May 24.
