Every year, on the second Sunday of July, the village of Sprynia, Sambir district, hosts celebrations dedicated to the Ukrainian Main Liberation Council.
Thus, today, on 14 July, the region celebrated the 80th anniversary of the creation of the highest governing body of the Ukrainian people during the revolutionary struggle.
The event was attended by the Deputy Head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, Yuriy Buchko.
The commemoration began with a minute of mourning for the fallen heroes of the UPA and the newest heroes of the Ukrainian-Russian war, followed by a flower-laying ceremony at the monument to the founders of the Ukrainian Main Liberation Council.
Afterwards, a memorial service for the fallen fighters for the freedom of Ukraine and a public assembly were held.
The festivities on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the UHHRU were concluded with an artistic part.
For reference.
UGVR – Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council – the highest governing body of the Ukrainian people during the revolutionary struggle (proto-parliament), until the establishment of the government of the Ukrainian Independent State. The body of political leadership of the Ukrainian liberation movement, formed in Ukraine at the end of the Second World War on the initiative of the UPA and the OUN (OUN-B).
The organisers’ goal was to create a broader socio-political basis for the armed underground’s struggle against the Germans and Bolsheviks and to attract personnel from outside the OUN (representatives of former political parties and non-party figures).
The constituent assembly of the UHUR took place on 11-15 July 1944 near the villages of Nedilna and Sprynia in the Sambir region under the protection of UPA units.
Kyrylo Osmak, a member of the Ukrainian People’s Republic born in 1890 in Poltava Oblast, was elected chairman of the UHHR.
The executive body of the UHHR was the General Secretariat, headed by the UPA Commander-in-Chief Roman Shukhevych, and later by Vasyl Kuk.
In 1944, the UHHR issued a Universal, which stated that all truly independent and self-reliant forces of Ukraine, regardless of their worldview and political group orientation, could join the UHHR, as long as they were ready to fight for the Sovereign Ukrainian State.
In occupied Ukraine, the UGVR led the armed struggle through the UPA, and conducted political and propaganda activities through the OUN.
The UGVR supported the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church against its forced liquidation and conducted propaganda among the Red Army in Western Ukraine.
In 1946, it boycotted the Soviet elections. In October 1949, the UGVR, UPA, and OUN issued an “Appeal of the Warring Ukraine to the entire Ukrainian emigration” calling for the intensification of the liberation cause abroad.
Most members of the UGVR in Ukraine were killed or arrested. At the same time, the UHHR in Ukraine practically ceased to exist.