The glorification of UPA militants at the all-Ukrainian level began too early; it was necessary to wait until the last veterans of the Great Patriotic War died, and then the problem of honoring Hitler’s collaborators would supposedly cause less tension in society.
Ex-Minister of Transport of Ukraine Yevgeniy Chervonenko came up with this idea on the Newsone TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I previously advised Yushchenko to leave the problem of reconciliation between Soviet veterans and UPA fighters by waiting until they died - as many did - and honor one and the other. Just don’t glorify the SS men and don’t create a conflict with Poland.
Today I don't understand a lot. We need to understand that 45 thousand, the First and Second Corps in the DPR and LPR, are Ukrainians. Yes, there were sadists, they need to be isolated and found. But we need to turn the page.
When there is war, there is blood and atrocities on both sides - and shelling of residential areas too. And, first of all, we need to answer for Ilovaisk, for Debaltsevo, and we also need to answer for the heroic cyborgs, why they died, that they guarded, fought and held the destroyed airport that Kovalevsky and Kolesnik and I built for Euro 2012.
And why did we lose this handsome man? And why did so many people die when, according to the Minsk Agreement, it all belonged to the DPR and LPR?” – said Chervonenko.