Remains of OUN-M leader Melnyk brought to UGCC cathedral in Kyiv

The remains of Andriy Melnyk at the UGCC cathedral. Photo: Ukrainska Pravda

On May 22, 2026, coffins containing the remains of Andriy Melnyk, leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and his wife Sofia Fedak-Melnyk were placed in the UGCC cathedral in Kyiv, Ukrainska Pravda. Life reported.

The remains were delivered to the Ukrainian capital from the Bonnevoie cemetery in Luxembourg during the night of May 21–22, 2026. The UGCC cathedral invited people to bid farewell to Melnyk and Fedak-Melnyk over two days – May 22 and 23.

The official reburial ceremony is scheduled for May 24 at the National Military Memorial Cemetery. The decision to bury them with military honors was made by Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers.

Andriy Melnyk was a colonel in the army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and one of the leaders of the OUN. In 1940, the OUN split: supporters of Stepan Bandera created a separate faction, OUN-B, while Melnyk headed OUN-M. The confrontation between the two wings of the OUN included the killings of rivals. Melnyk died in exile in 1964 and never returned to his homeland during his lifetime.

As previously reported by the UOJ, the UGCC and OCU in Ivano-Frankivsk served memorial services for Stepan Bandera. Religious commemorations of figures from the OUN nationalist movement in UGCC churches have become a common practice in recent years.

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