Farewell ceremony for Ukrainian leader Colonel Konovalets held in Kyiv – photos

The 3rd Army Corps held a farewell ceremony for Colonel Yevhen Konovalets, founder of the Ukrainian Military Organisation (UVO) and the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and commander of the Sich Riflemen Corps.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda journalists at the scene; 3rd Army Corps

Details: The ceremony took place at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church on the first night after Colonel Konovalets's remains were returned to Ukraine.

Quote from Andrii Biletskyi, Commander of the 3rd Army Corps: "Today, two generations meet here. Colonel Konovalets represents the generation of the Sich Riflemen, the Black Zaporozhians, and the fighters of the UVO, OUN and Ukrainian Insurgent Army. We are the generation of the Maidans, the Anti-Terrorist Operation and the full-scale Russia–Ukraine war. Each of these generations inherited the Ukrainian cause unfinished.

We are the first generation with a real chance to break this difficult chain and complete the work of the colonel and all our great predecessors – the struggle for a great, powerful and united Ukraine. So that we no longer have to pass this heavy duty on to our children and future generations." [The Black Zaporozhians were an elite cavalry formation of the Ukrainian People's Republic Army; Ukrainian Insurgent Army is a Ukrainian nationalist resistance force active during and after World War II; and the ATO or Anti-Terrorist Operation is a term used from 2014 to 2018 by the media and the government to identify combat actions in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts against Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists – ed.]

Details: Konovalets's coffin was brought to the cathedral on an original Austin armoured car dating from the Ukrainian Revolution, which had been restored by service members of the Corps's repair and recovery battalion.

Outside the cathedral, Konovalets' coffin was met by a guard of honour with torches, composed of members of the 3rd Army Corps and the Yevhen Konovalets Military School.

An artillery carriage was attached to the Austin armoured car, a gesture traditionally used in Ukraine and Europe to pay the highest military honours.

A three-inch gun was also attached to the armoured vehicle – an original 1917 model that had been in service with the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, specifically the Sich Riflemen Division commanded by Colonel Konovalets.

Background:

• Yevhen Konovalets was a key figure in the Ukrainian liberation movement of the first half of the 20th century. He commanded the Sich Riflemen Corps, one of the most combat-effective units of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) Army, and founded the Ukrainian Military Organisation (UVO) and the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).
• In 1938, Konovalets was assassinated in Rotterdam by Soviet intelligence agent Pavel Sudoplatov. The colonel was buried at Crooswijk Cemetery in Rotterdam, with the intention that he would eventually be reburied in his homeland after Ukraine regained its independence.
• On 13 August, the remains of Yevhen Konovalets were brought to Ukraine.
• On 25 May, Andrii Melnyk, once leader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, and his wife Sofiia Fedak-Melnyk were reburied at the National Military Memorial Cemetery.
• On Constitution Day 2026, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada on establishing the Ukrainian National Pantheon, intended to honour prominent Ukrainians.
• The government approved the establishment of the Ukrainian National Pantheon on the grounds of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory will be responsible for developing the project.

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