“Reconciliation” of a UPA militant and a Red Army soldier: Fiasco on air
An attempt to “reconcile” the UPA militant Vasily Kirilyuk, who collaborated with the Nazis, with the Red Army veteran Grigory Kalinichenko, organized by the Ukrainian edition of the BBC, turned out to be a failure.
Without completing the dialogue, the Bandera member did not want to communicate further with his “enemy,” the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
"Hard question. Religiously, we are taught: “Pray for your enemy and forgive him all his sins. I am a Christian, but I have endured so much that I can’t, it remains in my soul, that’s all,” Kirilyuk said before the meeting.
“Nobody did anything bad to me, and I didn’t do anything to anyone. I was in Germany for five years, from 65 to 70, and spoke directly with the Germans. I say: “What is your attitude?” And they say: “Yes, we understand that it is the politicians who are to blame, the people did not want to fight, but the politicians fought,” the Red Army soldier Grigory expressed his attitude.
“He didn’t know the essence of who Bandera was and so on. And to fight, they fought, and they beat many of their own people, Ukrainians from the same villages,” the veteran added, speaking about his opponent.
However, Kirilyuk was not at all so peaceful.
“Your special groups were specifically determined to get into our ranks and do things with our own hands. Some did not understand, I mean that they were quite trained and literate against us. I show no ill will towards him, and I will not turn people against him. I’m telling you because there was a situation,” said the Bandera member.
The Soviet officer tried to smooth out the conflict.
“This is a thing of the past. Let it remain in the past. But some say: “We are for Ukraine.” And we are for Ukraine too,” Kalinichenko said.
After these words, the UPA fighter abruptly stood up and left the room without listening to his interlocutor to the end.
“I’m telling you that I talked to the Germans, and the Germans made peace. They also had SS men and ordinary Germans, but now...,” the veteran commented on his opponent’s prank.
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