Ukraine repatriates remains of Yevhen Konovalets for reburial with military honors

The remains of Colonel Yevhen Konovalets, the 20th-century military leader and founder of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), were returned to Ukraine on August 13, 2026, following their exhumation in Rotterdam. Before his state reburial at the National Military Memorial Cemetery, Konovalets' remains will undergo advanced scientific examinations, including CT scans and MRIs. This repatriation effort aligns with Ukraine's newly legislated National Pantheon initiative to honor historical heroes.

Konovalets remains repatriation

• ▪The exhumation of Yevhen Konovalets' remains took place on August 11, 2026, at the Crooswijk Cemetery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
• ▪The ashes of Colonel Yevhen Konovalets, the first head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, were returned to Ukraine on August 13, 2026.
• ▪The exhumation of Yevhen Konovalets was coordinated by Kyrylo Budanov, Andrii Sybiha, and Oleksandr Alforov on the instructions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Scientific examination procedures

• ▪The Ukrainian government plans to establish a systematic approach to repatriating and scientifically examining other prominent Ukrainian military, literary, and cultural figures.
• ▪Upon return to Ukraine, the remains of Yevhen Konovalets will undergo scientific examinations, including CT scans and MRIs, involving experts, historians, and anthropologists.

OUN founding history

• ▪Yevhen Konovalets founded the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in 1929 following Ukraine's defeat in the 1917–1921 War of Independence.
• ▪Yevhen Konovalets was assassinated in Rotterdam in 1938 by an undercover Soviet agent who gifted him a chocolate box rigged with a bomb.

State military honors ceremony

• ▪A commemorative plaque will be installed at the Crooswijk Cemetery in Rotterdam to maintain a memorial site for Yevhen Konovalets in the Netherlands.
• ▪The state reburial ceremony for Yevhen Konovalets will be attended by the President, government, parliament, and military officials of Ukraine.
• ▪Yevhen Konovalets will be reburied at the National Military Memorial Cemetery following a farewell ceremony at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv.

National Pantheon initiative

• ▪The repatriation of Yevhen Konovalets follows the May 25, 2026 reburial of OUN leader Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofia at the National Military Memorial Cemetery.
• ▪On July 1, 2026, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law to establish a National Pantheon in Kyiv to honor outstanding contributors to the Ukrainian state.

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