Attack on Memorial to UPA Soldiers in Kharkiv

During the night of 19 December the Memorial Stone to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UPA [Ukrainian Resistance Army] in the Ukrainian Youth Park was wrenched from the ground and taken away.  Those responsible erected a black flag with yellow symbols.

Vasyl. Tretetsky, the Deputy Head of the Kharkiv Regional Administration, reports that around the area where the Stone stood, marks were found indicating that heavy technical equipment was used. 

He believes that responsibility lies with the Party of the Regions and Communist Party whose representatives in the authorities recently tried to initiate moves to have memorial plaques to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the UPA removed.  He does not, however, exclude the possibility that the attack was not on ideological grounds, but to avert public attention from scandals involving the heads of the City Council.

The Memorial Stone was found during the day buried in a pit, after a email was received by the press which also said that the act had been committed to mark the day of the Chekist [Cheka was the first of the many names for the Soviet secret police].

At the present time the Monument is being restored, and police have launched a criminal investigation and are following various leads.