On 23 May, Ukraine celebrates Heroes’ Day – a memorial day established within the Ukrainian liberation movement in honor of the fighters for Ukraine’s freedom. The date is linked to the figure of Yevhen Konovalets – Colonel of the Army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, organizer of the Corps of Sich Riflemen, and the first leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), who was assassinated by an NKVD agent on 23 May 1938. Today, on this day, all those who fought for Ukraine’s independence in different eras are honored.
This year, this day was especially significant for the War Museum. On 23 May, the museum team led by Director General Yurii Savchuk joined the XXXII All-Ukrainian Commemoration of the Heroes of Cold Yar and the heroes of the current war. Museum staff paid tribute to warriors of more than a century-long struggle against the eternal enemy – from Symon Petliura, the Chuchupak brothers, Kholodnyi Yar otamans Andrii Chornota, Ivan Derkach, Ivan Petrenko, officers and Cossacks of the Kholodnyi Yar Haidamaka Regiment, and soldiers of the Army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic to our contemporaries – the warriors defending Ukraine on the fronts of the russian-Ukrainian war.
On this day, at the Memorial to the Cossack Volunteers near the Motryn Monastery, a monument to the fallen soldiers of the «Carpathian Sich» of all epochs was unveiled, along with 10 bas-reliefs of fighters who died in the modern russian-Ukrainian war. Oleksandr Hrachov («Hraf»), Dmytro Kizimov («Luhan»), Myroslav Mysla («Myslyvets»), Mykhailo Nikolenko («Soup»), Viktor Panasko («Iranets»), Andrii Pryimachenko («Arkhangel»), Mykola Soliar, Oleksii Starikov («Alban»), Petro Khyzhniak («Did»), and Ihor Klymovych («Afryka») are now inscribed in the history of Cold Yar.
The memorial day concluded with the illumination of the Motherland Monument, initiated by the 1st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine «Azov» in partnership with the War Museum and the «Azov Prostir» NGO.
On Heroes’ Day, the quote by Yevhen Konovalets was projected onto the monument for several hours: «In fire, iron is forged into steel; in struggle, a people is transformed into a Nation.»
These words are more than a quote from one of the creators of Ukrainian national identity. They have proven prophetic for Ukraine, as it is precisely in the crucible of more than a century of struggle that the Ukrainian nation was forged. Today, our Defenders are once again forced to take up arms not only to protect our statehood, but to fight for the very right of our nation to exist – a right that russia constantly seeks to destroy. And on that very night, the aggressor country once again proved this – launching an unprecedented attack on civilian infrastructure, destroying and damaging dozens of cultural institutions, libraries, and historical sites…
We remember those who shaped the history of the struggle.
We honor all those who continue it today.
