The ashes of OUN leader Konovalets are already in Ukraine — he was greeted with state and military honors

The ashes of the founder and first chairman of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, colonel of the UNR Army, commander of the Sich Riflemen Yevhen Konovalets are already in Ukraine.

This was reported by Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Iryna Vereshchuk.

He was greeted with state and military honors. His remains were returned from the Netherlands, where Konovalets was buried. He will be reburied at the National War Memorial Cemetery.

On July 17, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a decision that allowed the reburial of the remains of Yevhen Konovalets in Ukraine. At that time, the head of the OUN Bohdan Chervak stated that in this way Ukraine would finally fulfill the historic promise of Ukrainian nationalists, who swore in 1938 to rebury Konovalets in Kyiv after the restoration of Ukraineʼs independence. Konovalets was killed in 1938 by an agent of the Soviet secret services Pavlo Sudoplatov.

Reburial of prominent Ukrainians

In June 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the procedure for the reburial at the National Monument of the Ukrainian Peopleʼs Republic of outstanding fighters for Ukraineʼs independence in the 20th century.

At the end of March 2026, the head of the Presidential Office, Kyrylo Budanov, announced that he would soon submit to the president for consideration the results and proposals for the creation of a Pantheon of Outstanding Ukrainians, where prominent Ukrainians who are currently buried abroad will be reburied.

President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted the Law on the Pantheon to the parliament on Constitution Day, June 28. The Verkhovna Rada adopted it on July 1, and later the Cabinet of Ministers determined that the Pantheon should be created on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve. It will be a memorial complex for the burial and reburial of fighters for Ukraineʼs independence and other prominent figures in Ukrainian history.

On May 25, the leader of the OUN, colonel of the UNR Army Andriy Melnyk, and his wife Sofia Fedak-Melnyk were reburied at the National Cemetery of Ukraine.

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