Zenon Vrublevsky, a 99-year-old veteran of the UPA and the Galicia Division, has died
Zenon Vrublevsky, a 99-year-old veteran of the UPA and the “Galicia” Division from Lviv, passed away in his 100th year. Zenon Vrublevsky’s life was filled with numerous trials.
“Yesterday, October 1, 2026, at the age of 100, the heart of a great son of Ukraine, co-founder of the Galician Brotherhood of Soldiers of the ‘Galicia’ Division and its last chairman, Zenon Vrublevsky, stopped beating,” the statement reads.
The chaplain recounted that Zenon Vrublevsky’s life was filled with trials. At a young age, he joined the “Galicia” Division, took part in the battles near Brody, was taken prisoner, survived Soviet labor camps, and, after escaping, joined the Ukrainian underground. In 1947, he was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison. It was only many years later that he was able to return to Lviv.
According to the chaplain, in independent Ukraine, Zenon Vrublevsky became one of those who preserved the memory of his comrades and the history of the Ukrainian struggle. He was a co-founder of the Galician Brotherhood of Former Soldiers of the 1st Ukrainian Division “Galicia” and remained a living witness to that era for many years
Who Is Zenon Vrublevsky?
Vrublevsky was born in Lviv on March 17, 1927. At the age of 16, he left high school and, without his parents’ knowledge, enlisted in the “Galicia” Division. Later, he served as the personal driver of Colonel Ivan Rembolovych of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UNR) army.
During the fighting in the “Brody Cauldron,” he was taken prisoner and transported to a concentration camp in the Perm region. After two years, he managed to escape. When he returned to Lviv, he established ties with the OUN underground.
Zenon Vrublevsky was arrested in 1947 and sentenced to 25 years of exile and five years of deprivation of civil rights, with confiscation of his property. He served his sentence in prisons and camps in Sverdlovsk, Karaganda, Kemerovo, and Vorkuta—a total of 10 years. He was released in 1956, but the authorities refused to issue him a passport, so he lived in Vorkuta for another four years. He returned to Lviv in 1960.
In 2025, a commission at the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory recognized 230 Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews—who had been repressed by the Soviet authorities between 1917 and 1991—as rehabilitated. Among them was Zenon Vrublevsky.
This was reported by military chaplain Mykhailo Hredil (known on the front lines as “Apostle”).
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