Maria Melnyk, a UPA liaison officer known by the alias "Fialka," has died in the Lviv region

In Stryi, Lviv Oblast, Maria Melnyk, a participant in the liberation movement and a liaison for the Ukrainian Insurgent Army known by the alias “Fialka,” died at the age of 100. Her granddaughter, Halyna, announced her death on October 22.

In 1943, Maria Melnyk joined the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and later became a liaison for the UPA. She carried out secret missions, relayed messages between settlements, raised funds for food and clothing for the insurgents, and helped transport the wounded to places where they could receive medical care. She also cooked meals and did laundry for the fighters.

On February 9, 1946, she was arrested at her home for collaborating with the UPA. A military tribunal sentenced her to 10 years in prison and five years of exile. Maria Melnyk was first sent to the “Narva” concentration camp in Estonia and later transferred to the village of Kengir in Kazakhstan.

In June 1955, she was released but remained in exile in the Omsk region of Russia, where she worked in the timber rafting industry. In 1957, she was released from the special settlement, after which she returned to Ukraine. However, her family home was no longer there—it had been demolished because the Soviet authorities considered the family to be hostile.

According to her granddaughter, despite the hardships she endured, Maria Melnyk retained her love of life and her faith in people. She remembers her grandmother as someone for whom helping others was one of her core life principles.

Source: Galina Kravtsova, Maria Melnyk’s granddaughter.

Earlier, Ukrainian comedian Oleksandr “Venia” Venedchuk passed away.

Writer Barbara Gavryliuk died in Poland at the age of 69.