Ukraine must speak of reburying Petliura, Skoropadsky – institute head
Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance Head Oleksandr Alforov has said it is necessary to speak about the reburial in Ukraine of Symon Petliura, the head of the Directorate of the Ukrainian People's Republic, and Pavlo Skoropadsky, the hetman of the Ukrainian State.
"Of course, we need to speak about Petliura and Skoropadsky. These are two leaders of independent Ukraine 100 years ago who are buried abroad, in forced emigration, but who dedicated their lives until death to returning Ukrainian authority to Ukraine and returning to their native land," Alforov said in a comment to the hromadske publication.
At the same time, he emphasized that there is another category of reburials – lesser-known Ukrainians whose graves abroad are not tended to or whose lease is expiring.
"There are many of them, because as a whole it turned out that today we do not know for sure how many Ukrainians are buried abroad or whether their graves have been preserved," Alforov said.
Skoropadsky died in 1945 and is buried in Oberstdorf, Germany. Petliura was assassinated in 1926 and is buried in Paris at the Montparnasse Cemetery.
Alforov has previously said that the reburial of prominent Ukrainians in their homeland is needed, among other things, because many graves abroad are in a precarious condition.
The ashes of Ukrainian writer and poet Oleksandr Oles were reburied on the territory of the Lukyanivske State Historical and Memorial Reserve in Kyiv in January 2017, it was previously reported. Oles died in 1944 in Prague, Czechia, where he was buried. In January 2017, the remains of the writer and his wife were exhumed because Czech laws require rent payments for a cemetery plot.
At that time, the Ministry of Culture reported that a special commission would be created under the ministry to deal with the reburial of prominent Ukrainians. However, there were no visible developments in this direction.
In December 2024, the National Military Memorial Cemetery state institution said that in 2025 it intended to begin honorary burials and reburials of defenders, as well as to carry out the first reburials at the cemetery of prominent Ukrainians who fought for Ukraine's independence in the 20th century but were buried outside the country. However, this did not happen.
In June 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the procedure for carrying out the reburial of prominent fighters for Ukraine's independence in the 20th century at the National Military Memorial Cemetery.
At the end of March, Presidential Office Head Kyrylo Budanov said that in the near future, based on the results of all discussions, he would submit to the president developments and proposals for creating a Pantheon of Prominent Ukrainians, which will list prominent natives of Ukraine currently buried abroad.
The Cabinet of Ministers on May 15 ordered the reburial in Ukraine of the remains of Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofiya Fedak-Melnyk on the territory of the National Military Memorial Cemetery. The exhumation ceremony took place in Luxembourg on May 19, and the actual reburial at the cemetery will take place on May 24.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on May 19 said that Ukraine is negotiating the return of the body of Yevhen Konovalets, a colonel of the Ukrainian People's Republic Army, commander of the Sich Riflemen, and founder and first head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), who is buried at the Crooswijk Cemetery in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Current OUN head, State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting First Deputy Chairman Bohdan Chervak on May 20 said that the return to Ukraine of the ashes of Yevhen Konovalets and Symon Petliura, the head of the Ukrainian People's Republic Directorate and chief otaman of the Ukrainian People's Republic troops and navy, could take place soon.