Ashes of OUN leader Andriy Melnyk and his wife have been returned to Ukraine
Kyiv • UNN
The remains of Colonel Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofiya have arrived from Luxembourg. They will be reburied on May 24 at a military cemetery in Kyiv.
The ashes of Colonel and OUN leader Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofia have been returned to Ukraine, Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Vereshchuk reported on social media on Thursday, UNN writes.
This morning, the motorcade with the ashes of Colonel Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofia crossed the state border of Ukraine
As reported by the State Border Guard Service, the ashes of Colonel Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofia Fedak-Melnyk were met at the border with Slovakia.
"At the 'Uzhhorod' checkpoint, a ceremony was held to welcome to their native land the ashes of the Ukrainian military and political figure, one of the leaders of the Ukrainian nationalist movement of the 20th century and head of the OUN, Colonel Andriy Melnyk, and his wife – the tireless guardian of national traditions, Sofia Fedak-Melnyk. Their bodies returned to Ukraine after more than seventy years at their burial site in Luxembourg," the SBGS stated.
At the initiative of the President of Ukraine, as part of the creation of the Pantheon of National Heroes, Ukraine decided this year to rebury the remains of the Leader of Ukrainian statists and his wife at the National Military Memorial Cemetery. The exhumation of the bodies took place in Luxembourg on May 19, and just two days later, the coffins with the ashes arrived in Ukraine.
After decades in a foreign land, Vereshchuk noted, they are returning to their native soil. "And today they are met by the Ukrainian flag and the national anthem, the Ukrainian military, Ukrainian children, and the entire Ukrainian people," she indicated.
"The presidential initiative to create the National Pantheon of Heroes is an important component of forming new traditions of national memory and restoring historical justice. We are returning not only prominent Ukrainian figures buried abroad. We are returning to Ukraine its historical memory, its continuity, and its Heroes," Vereshchuk noted.
On May 24, they will be reburied in the Pantheon of Prominent Ukrainians at the National Military Memorial Cemetery in Kyiv.