Ukrainian Insurgent Army. From an Interview with Stepan Bandera

One of the sources of information about the Ukrainian Insurgent Army is the memories, testimonies, as well as articles and interviews of the leaders of the liberation movement on the pages of Ukrainian and foreign periodicals. In particular, a lot of interesting information about the activities of UPA is contained in head of the OUN(b) Provid Stepan Bandera’s interview to foreign journalists.

The full version of the interview was published in the newspaper “Homin Ukrainy” dated May 20, 1950, Issue 19 (54). The translation of the text from Ukrainian to russian is kept in the archive of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine among the documents of the operational investigation of S. Bandera, as well as materials about UPA. We present it (in Ukrainian) with some abbreviations.

In the foreword, “Homin Ukrainy” points out that Stepan Bandera's interview received a lot of feedback, while “some foreign newspapers, as well as Ukrainian ones, which have a negative attitude to the Ukrainian nationalist movement, published incorrect and even purposefully distorted reports about the content of the interview”.  Having a recording of the conversation, the editors give all the answers on their pages.

Question: What is your position?

Answer: Head of the Provid (leadership- Transl.) of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.

Question: What is OUN’s goal?

Answer: Liberation of Ukraine, overthrowing the rule of enslavement of Ukraine by Bolshevik Russia, restoration of an independent Ukrainian state on Ukrainian ethnographic territory, destruction of Russian imperialism, disintegration of the USSR into independent national states of all peoples enslaved by Moscow.

Question: What state system does OUN intend to establish?

Answer: OUN strives to establish a democratic order and social justice. OUN fights against the Bolshevik dictatorship, totalitarianism, against communist social enslavement and oppression.

In the Ukrainian state, the Ukrainian people themselves must freely decide on the state and social order. The Ukrainian state must introduce the free development of all spheres of life – religion, culture, economic activity, it will ensure comprehensive personal freedom and justice for all citizens of Ukraine, freedom of individual and collective activity in all socio-political, economic, cultural and other spheres of life.

Question: How do you want to accomplish your goals?

Answer: Through the revolutionary armed political struggle of the entire Ukrainian people within the general anti-Bolshevik front together with other enslaved and oppressed peoples.

Question: What are the relations between OUN and UPA?

Answer: The closest joint activity. UPA arose from the armed units (departments) of OUN during the Second World War, when the military struggle unfolded on a large scale on two fronts – against the Germans and against the Bolsheviks.

The basis of UPA was the military units (departments) of OUN, but UPA also includes not members of OUN, but all those who want to take part in the armed struggle against the enemy for freedom of Ukraine.

UPA is built and operates on purely military principles, but taking into consideration underground conditions. UPA conducts military operations within the framework of the entire revolutionary struggle, which is practically carried out and organized by OUN.

Question: Are you the Commander of UPA?

Answer: No, the Chief Commander of UPA is General Taras Chuprynka.

Question: What is his position in OUN?

Answer: He is the second “Head of the Provid” of OUN.

Question: What operations does UPA conduct?

Answer: UPA’s operations, their scales and forms change according to changes in the situation. During the war and immediately after it, UPA operated with large military units, carried out large-scale military “actions”, covering large territories with its operations and mastering them.

In the current, more stabilized conditions, the forms of UPA actions are different, not what they could be during the war period. In the years 1945–1948, the Bolsheviks carried out mass operations in several “surges” to eliminate the political underground. A large number of divisions operated for several months in a row throughout the territory of Ukraine. When those divisions from the rifle units of the Soviet Army turned out to be unreliable, starting in 1946, the NKVD troops have been operating almost exclusively.

But the Bolsheviks did not manage to destroy either the units of UPA or the entire revolutionary underground of OUN. Now UPA operates in small, fragmented units (departments).

The main goals of current military actions of UPA are as follows:

- to strengthen the socio-political revolutionary process everywhere;

- to protect the population from destructive operations of the NKVD, such as, for example, mass removal (deportation) of the population;

- to paralyze and destroy strongholds of police and economic terror;

- to carry out revolutionary propaganda raids in the countries under the control of the Bolsheviks to strengthen the revolutionary movement;

- to develop and improve methods of armed revolutionary struggle;

- to clearly show all the peoples of the USSR that the armed revolutionary struggle is possible and successful under any circumstances, despite all the efforts of the Bolshevik terror;

- to exert a revolutionary influence on the Soviet army;

- to maintain the continuity of actions of the main cadres of the revolutionary army, which at the appropriate moment must be ready and able to organize and lead the masses of the revolutionary army to fight.

Question: Did the Bolsheviks use other attempts to stop the struggle, for example, by appeals?

Answer: Yes, they did. From 1944 to 1947, the Bolshevik government repeatedly made official appeals to the Ukrainian revolutionaries to stop the struggle, promising “amnesty” for this, talking about the Ukrainian state. But Ukrainians know the “Muscovites” very well, and such treacherous approaches and appeals were not trusted.

In some countries, for example, in Poland, where the underground forces partly allowed themselves to be caught by such tricks of the Bolsheviks and came out of the underground, this led not only to a significant weakening and demobilization of the anti-Bolshevik underground, but also led soon to the arrests, expulsion and liquidation of all discovered underground fighters.

Question: What is the quantitative composition of UPA?

Answer: It is a secret.

Question: Can you provide approximate information relating to the past about the quantitative composition and size of large UPA operations?

Answer: At the turn of 1944 and 1945, our enemies – Germans and Bolsheviks, in their intelligence reports, assessed UPA as a military force equal to a 200,000-strong army.

In one of the big battles, which lasted for several days, three divisions took part from the Bolshevik side against one military unit of UPA (battle in the Black Forest region of Subcarpathia in 1945). In that battle, UPA units dealt powerful blows to the Bolsheviks and managed to break through the encirclement.

Question: What weapons does UPA have and where does it get them from?

Answer: UPA gets all its weapons from the enemy. In particular, large stocks of weapons remained from the war.

The main types of weapons are: automatic machine guns and pistols, hand-held anti-tank weapons, light anti-tank guns.

Question: Does UPA have tanks, planes, artillery, and do the Bolsheviks use these types of weapons against UPA?

Answer: The Bolsheviks, like the Germans, use tanks, planes, and artillery against UPA. UPA has no planes. Tanks and grenade launchers were used by UPA units only occasionally, in separate battles after capturing those types of weapons from the enemy...

Foreign journalists also asked Stepan Bandera all sorts of questions about the activities of OUN, about his election as the Leader of OUN, about the prospects of the liberation struggle and disintegration  of the USSR.

At the end of the publication, the editors emphasized the following:

“At the end of the interview, Bandera drew Western correspondents’ attention to the following things:

The policy and tactics of the Western states towards the USSR, which are still carried out by them, have many mistakes that harm the fight against the Bolshevik offensive, which is spreading throughout the world. The policy of distinguishing between Bolshevism and Russian imperialism is incorrect. It is impossible to destroy one while leaving the other untouched, especially unrealistic is the concept of having one as an ally against the other.

Similarly wrong is the concept to count on the Russian forces that oppose Bolshevism, but themselves call for the restoration of the empire that enslaves other peoples...

The concept of countering the Bolshevik system by legal, parliamentary methods harmed the anti-Bolshevik front greatly. In the countries occupied by the Soviets, in the so-called satellites, the direction of national and anti-Bolshevik efforts on the legal path of struggle led to great losses, demobilization and undermining of the anti-Bolshevik forces. This was caused by the policy of the Western states, which pushed the nations onto such a legal path of defeat.

Against Bolshevism –  the system of limitless terror, lawlessness, totalitarianism – only one way of liberation struggle of enslaved peoples is possible –  an uncompromising revolution.

The Western world does not notice and underestimates the most reliable and stable forces in the world struggle against Bolshevism –  the revolutionary efforts of the enslaved peoples. Just like Ukraine, many nations are fighting against Bolshevism, against Russian predatory imperialism. National ideas, the desire for independence and free development give such peoples the strength to stand in the most difficult struggle, while powerful states are currently engaged in concluding agreements (pacts) with the USSR.

But today, our peoples do not fight on their own. All the “independentist” revolutionary forces of the peoples enslaved by Bolshevism unite in the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Peoples, creating a common front of the liberation struggle...”

(Source: BSA of the SZR of Ukraine. – F. 1. – Case 10876. – V. 4. – P. 396–421).