VASYL KUK: TO THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE UPA COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF (1941–1954)

Abstract

The research problem for this study is to describe the figure of Vasyl Kuk (1913–2007), a leading person in the Ukrainian liberation movement of the mid-20th century, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), an active member of the social and political life of independent Ukraine. Based on various published and unpublished sources, recreated Vasyl Kuk's participation in the anti-Nazi and anti-Bolshevik struggle from the time of the transition to the illegal position in the autumn of 1941 until the treacherous capture by the false underground KGB intelligence-fighting group of the USSR in May 1954 as one of the main activists of the Ukrainian liberation movement. The specifics of his activities in Eastern Ukraine as the head of the regional leadership of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) of the South-Eastern lands of Ukraine are revealed. V. Kuk's contribution to the creation and activities of the UPA, the leadership of the UPA-South General District, and the particular participation of the leader in the famous UPA Gurben battle against the prevailing internal forces of the Soviet occupation power are analyzed. The author considers V. Kuk's place in the OUN's armed underground as deputy Roman Shukhevych (1947–1950) and, then, the leader of the OUN underground in Ukrainian lands (1950–1954) and his functional responsibilities in these positions. Special attention was paid to the issue of the intelligence-operational worked on the UPA Commander-in-Chief by the Ministry for State Security (MGB) bodies, attempts to discredit him, the place of the family in the plans of the repressive-punitive bodies and the types of repressive measures against it. The KGB special operation for the capture of V. Kuk in the insurrectionary "kryivka" in the forest near the village Kruhiv of Zolochiv district in the Lviv region was investigated. Keywords: Vasyl Kuk, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), Ukrainian General Liberation Council, UPA Commander-in-Chief, MGB, KGB, intelligence.