Good day, my name is Volodymyr Viatrovych.
I am from Ukraine.
Welcome to everyone from whirlpool of history.
Ramzan Kadyrov – Putin’s faithful dog, with whom the Kremlin leader continuously threatens his opponents. He personally threatens the Russian leader’s enemies with death, forces some to apologise or even repent for any criticism.
Even recently, the mere mention of the appearance of “kadyrovtsi” on the battlefield could paralyse his enemies or force them to flee.
That was until the moment, they encountered the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Ukrainians forced the Kadyrovtsi to flee.
The current war even showed that, the dreaded Kadyrov, whom everyone should to be afraid of, himself fears another person. Kadyrov’s fear has a name – Stepan Bandera, leader of the Ukrainian nationalists, who was killed almost 75 years ago. A few days ago, the Chechen fighter made a revelation, that “The main enemy of the Russian nation is Bandera. My fighters will very shortly deal with him – and later with the rest of the nationalist activities”.
For him Bandera is still at war.
And not only for him.
Bandera remains enemy number 1 of the entire Russian state, the chief anti-hero of Russian propaganda. Why does Bandera until this day frighten the Russians, and for almost a century remains a symbol of the struggle for independence for Ukrainians?
Why even now, is he not just a character from our past, why is he still in the whirlpool of history and at the forefront of the struggle?
I will for now explain briefly. Without fail, after the war, I will write a book in more detail about this.
Bandera was born in 1909, that means before the First World War. The events of this war, and later the Ukrainian Revolution 1917- 1921, became part of his childhood and without doubt influenced him.
Just as with many of his peers.
Bandera belonged to a generation of those, who by virtue of his age was not able to take part in the Ukrainian revolution but did not wish to reconcile with defeat, he aspired to revenge in the fight for freedom.
They did not criticise their predecessors but resolved to dedicate their lives to complete their mission.
So, a whole generation of revolutionaries appeared in history.
For them, their main goal of self-realization, was the creation of an independent Ukraine. Roman Shukhevych, Oleksa Hasyn, Vasyl Kuk, Kateryna Zarytska, Mykhaylo Kolodzinskyj, Iryna Tymochko-Kaminska, Vasyl Halasa and thousands more prominent people who did the incredible.
During the Second World War they forced even the most powerful players to reckon with the Ukrainian factor.
They forced the two totalitarian regimes – the Nazi and Communist – to feel the power of the Ukrainian resistance. And even against this famous background Bandera stood out. Firstly – in terms of organisational skills. Having led OUN in West Ukraine, he used it as the main instrument of the Ukrainian liberation struggle. Secondly, his self-confidence and courage transformed him into a legend, at a very young age. Well-known across the whole of Europe, the leader of the Ukrainian nationalists stood up and faced his death sentence with the famous greeting “Slava Ukraini!” (Glory to Ukraine). He was 25.
While he sat in prison, folk songs about him echoed beyond their walls. Ukrainians, destroyed by foreign terror, humiliated, yearned for such a hero: young, unbroken, capable of resisting. He was such, that most other people could never be, but they needed to know, that such Ukrainians exist.
The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. In 1939, the government that sentenced him to life imprisonment itself ceased to exist. Bandera once again became involved in the work of OUN. It was under his leadership, the military course was developed, which resulted in the creation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
At the end of 1942, the Ukrainians formed UPA, one of the largest resistance movements during the Second World War. At that moment in time, Bandera was once again in captivity – this time in the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen. The Nazis imprisoned him, when Bandera refused their demand to revoke the Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian State 30 June 1941.
The occupiers did not want an independent Ukraine, therefore began to eliminate all of those, who set themselves such a goal. Thousands of Ukrainian nationalists were killed or imprisoned during 1941-1942, but the Nazis were not able to break the Ukrainian resistance.
More than 100 thousand soldiers passed through the ranks of the UPA. Over half a million Ukrainians were repressed for supporting the insurgent army.
Meanwhile, Bandera was kept in the concentration camp. The Nazis could have killed him anytime, but did not do so, because they thought they could use him politically. But – no. Bandera rejected all proposals made to him, to cooperate, towards the end of the Third Reich.
After the war, he remained in exile, deployed the work of OUN Western Units, which included Western Europe, USA, Canada, South America and Australia. Thanks to the Ukrainian organisations throughout the world, everyone already knew about Ukrainians and their fight for freedom. So, when in 1991 Ukraine at last regained independence, there began a wave of world recognition of the Ukrainian State.
The Kremlin clearly understood the danger that Bandera’s work posed for them. So they began hunting. Finally, one of the assassination attempts by the KGB was successful in 1959.
The physical elimination of Bandera could not stop the circulation of his image as a symbol of the liberation movement. On the contrary, Bandera died fighting in the struggle.
Paradoxically, the hostile Soviet and later Russian propaganda played its part in transforming Bandera into a symbol of the liberation struggle. At different times, his personification was one of the counter offensive methods of the movement. Therefore, its participants, before becoming known as Banderivtsi (after Bandera), were called Petliurivtsi (after Petliura) and prior to this – Mazepyntsi (after Mazepa). Accordingly, the propagandists emphasized: it is not the people that oppose the empire, but separate “bad” elements of the people.
After the Second World War, not only Ukrainians were known as Banderivtsi but also representatives of the Baltic, Caucasus nations and anyone who dared to stand up against the Kremlin.
Today, Moscow opposes not only a free Ukraine, but also any anti-Soviet sentiments, which she sees as a danger. It is exactly this spirit, that is the biggest threat to Putin.
This is why the Kremlin is still afraid of Bandera.
Bandera – is about Ukrainians resisting in seemingly hopeless situations.
Bandera – is about the enormous potential of self-reliance, the potential that is now at the root of successful resistance to Russian aggression, which changes the geopolitical position of Ukraine in the world.
Bandera – is about a long-term struggle, about believing in people and their power to defend freedom.
Bandera – is about the death of the Russian empire and victory of Ukraine.
Kadyrov very much wants to meet Bandera.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces can organise this meeting. It could even be a meeting of three with Putin, a so-called summit.
Slava Ukraini! (Glory to Ukraine!)
Archive of the OUN in UIS-London
