July 5, 2022
The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany faced backlash last week after defending Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist leader who Wikipedia notes lead “the militant wing (OUN-B), served as head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, organization responsible for massacres and ethnic cleansings, also implicated in collaboration with Nazi Germany.”
Notes from Poland reported that Melnyk made the remarks while interviewed by two German journalists. He was asked about Bandera, who was the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The group was accused of massacres and ethnic cleansing of Poles and Jews.
The Israeli embassy told the paper that Malnyk’s comments were a “distortion of the historical facts,” and the Polish deputy foreign minister posted online: “Such an opinion and such words are absolutely unacceptable.”
He was asked how such a person can be embraced as a hero in Ukraine. Melnyk denied the claim that he was a killer. One of the journalists cited a propaganda leaflet signed by Bandera that called for Russians, Poles, Hungarian, and Jews to be “wiped out” and Melnyk stuck by his earlier comment.
Putin’s critics say the Kremlin is loose with the Nazi designation and uses it to win support from the public against adversaries. In fact, in his 9 May Victory Day speech, Putin said that the purpose of the military action was to purge Ukraine of its “Nazi” nationalist leadership.
Bandera was killed six decades ago by Soviet intelligence agents and is viewed as a father figure by some Ukrainians.
The report said “Russia’s military regards the use of his name as a kind of clue to literally hunt down Ukrainians in the occupied territories. Ukrainian media are full of eyewitness accounts of how the Russians chased down Bandera supporters among Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians alike.”
Viktor Yushchenko, who was Ukraine president in 2005, awarded Bandera the title “Hero of Ukraine.” It was later revoked by Viktor Yanukovych, whose government, as we have greatly detailed in Trends Journals, was overthrown with the backing of the United States.
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