Ukrainians Celebrate 77th Anniversary Of WWII SS Division - Galicia

[G.L.R.]

Ukrainian far-right nationalists stage march in center of Kiev to mark 77th anniversary of WWII Nazi military division SS Galicia

29 Apr, 2021



According to the TASS news agency, about 100 people from various far-right nationalist groups participated in a celebration of the military division's 77th anniversary.

In response to the march, the country's second largest parliamentary grouping 'Opposition Platform – For Life' asked for a "tough reaction" against the Nazis, and demanded that the organizations who arranged the event be banned. The party also noted what it deemed to be hypocrisy on the part of President Volodymyr Zelensky's government, explaining that the authorities are blocking the traditional WWII Victory Day parade marking the Soviet victory over Adolf Hitler's Germany. Created in Lvov in 1943, SS Galicia was made up predominantly of Ukrainian volunteers who wanted to take up arms for Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union, and mainly fought against local partisans. The unit was almost wiped out in the 1944 Battle of Lvov–Sandomierz, and later saw action in Slovakia and Austria. In 1945, it rebranded as the Ukrainian National Army and lasted until the end of the war in May that year.

On Wednesday evening, supporters of SS Galicia met in the center of Kiev on Arsenalnaya Square, and walked for half an hour to Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the city's Independence Square. At the end of the march, the Nazis hung a banner on a bridge, depicting soldiers in Nazi uniform. Local police blocked off the road to facilitate the celebration. "We are the force that will rule this country," one of the participants said, according to Ukrainian publication Strana. We are the force that will fight in Moscow. We are proud and remember the deeds of the SS division Galicia." In Ukrainian civil society, far-right nationalists have significant influence. In 2019, the country's former Prime Minister, Aleksey Goncharuk, was caught attending a concert from a prominent neo-Nazi band. Outside of elected officials, radical groups like the Right Sector have a large following. Read more ...

Ukrainian far-right nationalists stage march in center of Kiev to mark 77th anniversary of WWII Nazi military division SS Galicia — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union
https://www.rt.com/russia/522435-ss-galicia-march-kiev