On 20 June 2025, at 15:00, the War Museum invites you to an open lecture-discussion, ‘In the Crosshairs of Empire: Soviet Attacks on the Leaders of the Ukrainian Liberation Movement in the Twentieth Century.’
The event is dedicated to the political assassinations of Symon Petliura, Yevhen Konovalets, Stepan Bandera, and other Ukrainian statesmen and politicians whom the Soviet secret services tried to kill for their struggle for Ukrainian independence. The names of these leaders are inscribed in the canon of the Ukrainian Liberation Movement of the twentieth century. In exile, they continued to defend the freedom of their country and, therefore, found themselves in the crosshairs of the Soviet repressive machine.
The imperial practice of eliminating dissenters is not just a matter of the past. The war against Ukrainian identity, language, history, and leaders continues today – albeit in new forms. That is why we focus on the topic of planned political assassinations of the leaders of the Ukrainian Liberation Movement to understand the logic of the enemy, the ways of action, and the origins of this policy.
The guest of the event will be Oleksandr Skrypnyk, a journalist, writer, and researcher of the history of special services, as well as the author of books about the operations of Soviet security agencies against Ukrainian figures. Among his scientific work, there are such works as ‘Special Operation Necro. Declassified Stories from the Intelligence Archive’ and ‘Ukrainian Intelligence. 100 years of Struggle, Confrontation, Achievements’.
Participants will be able to learn about the logic and methods of Soviet special operations, from the first liquidations of UPR leaders in exile to the actions of the NKVD and KGB in the interwar and post-war times, as well as how the special services identified the most dangerous personalities and how the documented attempts and murders of Yevhen Konovalets, Stepan Bandera, Yaroslav Stetsko, Mykola Kapustyansky were realized.
Moderator – Ruslan Bolobon, a tour guide of the Museum.
Free entrance.
