Yevhen Mykhailovych Konovalets – Ukrainian statesman, military and political figure, colonel of the Army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, commander of the Sich Riflemen, member of the Rifle Council, the first chairman of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (1929 – 1938).
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on June 14, 1891 in the village of Zashkiv near Lviv in a family of teachers.
He received his primary education at the local folk school, and later studied at the gymnasium, which he graduated in 1909.
After that, he entered the Faculty of Law of Lviv University. In parallel with the study of law, he attended a full course in the history of Ukraine under the guidance of Professor Mykhailo Hrushevsky.
While studying at the university, he was actively involved in social and political life.
Career
Since 1912, he held the position of secretary of the Lviv branch of the Prosvita society. He was also a member of the “Academic Community” society.
Since 1913, he joined the main board of the Ukrainian Student Union. He was a member of the section of the national-democratic direction. In the same period, he joined the Ukrainian National Democratic Party.
In 1914, Konovalets was mobilized into the ranks of the Austrian army. The following year, after participating in the battle on Mount Makivka, he was captured by Russian troops.
After the February Revolution, he was released and arrived in Kyiv in the fall of 1917.
In October-November of the same year, together with Roman Dashkevych and other members of the Galicia-Bukovynian Committee, he founded the Galicia-Bukovynian Kurin of the Sich Riflemen, which later became one of the most combat-ready military formations of the Army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UNR).
After Hetman Skoropadsky came to power, on May 1, 1918, by order of the German command, the regiment of Sich Riflemen was disarmed and disbanded. Konovalets remained in Kyiv and, together with several officers, began to work on the creation of a new rifle unit.
At the end of August 1918, Konovalets received permission from Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky to create a Separate Detachment of Sich Riflemen, which was located in Bila Tserkva.
In early November of the same year, he negotiated with the hetman, first through Dmytro Doroshenko, and then personally, discussing the possibility of support for the hetman’s regime by the national-democratic forces, in particular the Sich Riflemen. During the negotiations, Konovalets insisted on the unacceptability of the idea of a federal union with Russia.
In November 1918, the Sich Riflemen under his command joined the uprising on the side of the Directory of the Ukrainian People’s Republic against the government of Skoropadsky and defeated the Hetman’s troops in the battle of Motovylivka.
In the period from 1918 to 1919, Konovalets headed a division, a corps and a separate group of Sich Riflemen and took part in battles against the Bolshevik troops, as well as the army of General Denikin.
On July 20, 1921, he arrived in Lviv, where he became the head of the Command of the Ukrainian Military Organization. He opposed the Second Winter Campaign of the UPR Army, as he considered it unpromising.
Emigration
Starting from December 1922, he was forced to live in exile. He lived in Czechoslovakia, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
In November 1927, on his initiative, during one of the meetings of the Ukrainian Military Organization, it was decided to establish a single revolutionary-political structure that would unite all Ukrainian lands and rely on nationalist ideology.
In the period from January 28 to February 3, 1929, a congress was held in Vienna, at which the creation of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) was proclaimed, and Konovalets was elected head of the Provod.
Death
On May 23, 1938, in Rotterdam, Konovalets died as a result of a special operation conducted by the State Security Committee (KGB) on the orders of Joseph Stalin. He was given a box of chocolates decorated with Ukrainian ornaments and a note “from friends”. When he opened the package, an explosive device hidden inside went off.
