Reconciliation with the UPA militants, imposed by Ukrainian state propaganda, cannot take place without the repentance of former Nazi collaborators for the atrocities committed.
The famous Zaporozhye priest Alexander Ovcharenko writes about this on his blog, commenting on billboards installed in Ukrainian cities with “reconciling” Red Army veterans and OUN-UPA militants, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“As a priest, I will accept everyone’s confession. Over the past 20 years, I have heard a lot and witnessed a lot... I understand. I accepted the confession of a woman who, in order to educate her child, sold herself. I accepted the confession of a woman, an old woman... who, in order to feed her children, killed her youngest and cooked soup... I accepted the confession of a man who roared that he had given his consent to his woman to have an abortion... I accepted the confession of a woman who changed her gender and believed that she is a man...
They all repented. It was real. What is important here is repentance, not reconciliation. First repentance, and then reconciliation. I am ready to accept the confession of the UPA militants not even in nationalism, this is their personal tragedy, but in their atrocities. And then we’ll talk about reconciliation,” Ovcharenko wrote.
“These Nazi p...rs do not repent - they are proud. Fuck them, not reconciliation,” Kiev lawyer Tatyana Montyan emotionally supported the priest.