Andrii Melnyk, the leader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and his wife Sofiia Fedak-Melnyk have been reinterred at the National Military Memorial Cemetery.
The reburial ceremony took place on Monday morning. This is the first honorary reinterment of a Ukrainian independence fighter at the National Military Memorial Cemetery.
In June 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the procedure for reinterring distinguished fighters for Ukrainian independence in the 20th century at the National Military Memorial Cemetery.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a post wrote: “As we were bringing Colonel Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofia back to Ukraine – through Zakarpattia and then across half the country to our free capital, Kyiv – this path was not marked by the discord that had so often knocked us, and Ukraine, off our feet in the past.
“There were no doubts about who Ukraine’s true enemy is, and who its friends, partners, and brothers are. And what was there was gratitude – our unconditional gratitude to all those who have dedicated their lives to serving Ukraine, and thanks to whom Ukraine withstands Russian strikes and continues to endure – gratitude to our warriors, gratitude to all our people.
Colonel Andriy Melnyk returned to a different Ukraine – not the one he had been forced to leave, but the one he had dreamed of. He dreamed of it – as did thousands of other such significant Ukrainian figures.
“I thank all those who are truly doing their best to ensure that our Ukrainian national memory remains a living memory. I am grateful to everyone who has worked to make such returns of great Ukrainian figures possible and to give the Ukrainian People their own pantheon of heroes.
“Glory to every Ukrainian hero! Glory to all our Ukrainian warriors! Glory to our people!” te president added.
Andrii Melnyk was a Ukrainian military and political figure, one of the closest associates of the first OUN leader Yevhen Konovalets, an organiser of the Sich Riflemen formation in Kyiv and one of the founders of the Ukrainian Military Organisation.
Sofiia Fedak was a member of Plast (the largest scouting organisation in Ukraine), a fighter and a professional financier.
She became Andrii Melnyk’s wife in 1929 following his release from Polish imprisonment, having visited her future husband throughout all four years of his incarceration.
In 1944, the Nazis interned her alongside her husband in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Melnyk received an invitation from the Grand Duke of Luxembourg to be his guest, and from late 1945 lived in Luxembourg with his wife.
There, Andrii Melnyk worked towards the consolidation of émigré forces and put forward a programme to establish the World Congress of Ukrainians, which was realised after his death. In Luxembourg, Sofiia worked in banking and assisted her husband in maintaining the OUN network.
Andrii Melnyk died on 1 November 1964. His wife attended to his grave. Although he was buried at the Bonnevoie municipal cemetery in Luxembourg, the headstone was created by Ukrainian sculptor Hryhorii Kruk. The structure, which holds artistic value, was brought from Ukraine.
Sofiia Fedak-Melnyk died on 31 July 1990 at the age of 88.
