On May 25, 2026, Ukrainian President and NATO puppet, Volodymyr Zelensky, marched in a reburial procession and ceremony for the long-deceased Ukrainian fascist figure, Andriy Melnyk. In 1964, Melnyk was buried at Bonnevoie cemetery in Luxembourg. He remained there until May 19, 2026, when the Ukrainian government exhumed his remains and transferred them to Kiev.
Attendees at the May 25 ceremony included not just President Zelensky, but also Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov, Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, and the ministers for Veterans Affairs and Foreign Affairs. This was quite the showing from the Ukrainian political class.
On May 19, as the reburial process began, Zelensky spoke glowingly of Melnyk, describing him and his wife, Sofia Fedak-Melnyk, as “iconic Ukrainians of the 20th century who are deeply respected.” In a post marking the ceremony, Zelensky expressed his gratitude to “everyone who has worked to make such returns of great Ukrainian figures possible and to give the Ukrainian People their own pantheon of heroes.” At the May 25 state ceremony, Zelensky went even further, placing Melnyk among “our Ukrainian heroes” and saying he had returned to the Ukraine he “dreamed of.”
So, who was this great Ukrainian figure? Who was Andriy Melnyk? First, let’s start with what Mr. Melnyk was not. Mr. Melnyk was not a hero. Mr. Melnyk was not a great statesman or leader. Mr. Melnyk was not a person of kindness, grace, or compassion.
Andriy Melnyk was a committed fascist and all but led the collaboration movement with Nazi German forces as they invaded Ukraine. In 1939, Melnyk rose to leadership in the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). In a statement condemning the reburial and commemoration, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress condemned Ukraine for “paying tribute to a leader of a movement whose members supported Nazi Germany and contributed to the climate of hatred, persecution, and mass murder of Jews
The OUN was and is one of the most infamous and notorious fascist forces in the world. Under the leadership of Melnyk and people like Stepan Bandera, the OUN did not just collaborate with Nazi intelligence and the Nazi army. These forces drew on the brutal anti-semitic pogroms and anti-Bolshevik violence that swept Ukraine after the 1917 October Revolution. The OUN itself was founded in 1929, but it carried forward the war of terror against pro-Bolshevik and nationally oppressed communities in Ukraine.
By the time Melnyk came to power, they were well funded, well armed, and well established as the main Ukrainian fascist organization. During his leadership, Melnyk organized Ukrainian troop support for invading Nazi troops and aimed to institute Nuremberg-style laws towards the Jewish community.
Unfortunately for Melnyk, Hitler and the Nazi Party were not set on the idea of an independent fascist Ukraine. For the Third Reich, places like Ukraine had to be subordinated to German fascism. Even when the Vienna Gestapo arrested Melnyk in 1944, he still attempted to build connections within Germany in support of an independent fascist Ukraine. World War II ended in 1945, but Melnyk’s fascist organizing did not. He led the OUN in exile until his death in 1964.
So, this is the great hero that the Jewish President of Ukraine claims is a glorious champion of the Ukrainian people. A Ukraine in the vision of Melnyk would have been one of complete war and terror against the working class. The Ukrainian government’s commemoration and worship of figures like Melnyk is not particularly new. Since the Maidan in 2014, Ukrainian society has consistently moved towards fascism in policy and symbolism. The forces pushing this transition are not a secret. NATO, the United States, and the EU all oversaw investment in Ukraine’s increasingly fascist military and, really, the general direction of Ukrainian society in anticipation of a proxy conflict with Russia.
Ukraine’s reburial of Melnyk was so heinous that even Israel was pressured into condemning the move. Melnyk’s reburial is just another piece added to a mountain of evidence that Jewish president aside, Ukraine is a deepening fascist country working on behalf of NATO and the United States.
Lev Koufax is an anti-Zionist Jewish activist.
Join the Struggle-La Lucha Telegram channel