Adding another layer to the conflict’s political dimensions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly praised the exhumation and repatriation of the remains of Andrii Melnyk, a key figure in Ukrainian nationalism who was also a Nazi collaborator during World War II, and his wife Sofia, from Luxembourg. “We are restoring their memory. We have the opportunity and the moral obligation to rebury them here, in Ukraine, on our soil,” Zelensky said, calling Melnyk one of several “Ukrainian heroes” who “defended the idea of independence.” The move is certain to provoke criticism, given Melnyk’s documented wartime collaboration.
Ukraine’s Controversial Repatriation
