Ukrainian intelligence has released archives on Andriy Melnyk
Ukrainian intelligence has declassified KGB archival documents detailing years of surveillance of OUN leader Andriy Melnyk. The materials show that Soviet intelligence agencies conducted covert surveillance on him, planned operations, and even controlled the circumstances of his death and burial. The release was timed to coincide with Melnyk’s reburial in Ukraine.
The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine has released previously classified KGB materials that were kept under the “secret” classification for decades and pertain to Andriy Melnyk—a colonel in the Army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The documents detail prolonged surveillance, agent recruitment, and the preparation of potential special operations against him, which Soviet services conducted while the political figure was still alive.
The publication of the archives by the State Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) coincided with the reburial of Melnik and his wife, Sofia Fedak-Melnik, from Luxembourg to Ukraine at the National Military Memorial Cemetery. Among the released materials are five-volume files from the NKVD and KGB containing biographical notes, intelligence reports, surveillance photographs, and reports on his activities in the national movement.
The special services paid particular attention to events following the death of the OUN leader in 1964. The documents record the Soviet authorities’ reaction to Melnik’s death, monitoring of international reports, and even an analysis of his funeral, which took place on November 7 in Luxembourg. The Soviet leadership viewed this date as potentially symbolic, linking it to the anniversary of the October Revolution, although the reasons for choosing the day were purely logistical.
The declassified materials also contain a plan for special operations regarding the possible elimination of Melnik, dated 1944. It was prepared by the 4th Directorate of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR, which was engaged in sabotage and intelligence activities abroad.
The State Security Service of Ukraine emphasizes that the released documents provide a better understanding of the scale of surveillance of figures in the Ukrainian liberation movement and the methods of the Soviet special services. “This phobia of seeing anti-Soviet tendencies even where there was no hint of them was deeply ingrained in their minds. Even the dead Andriy Melnyk did not give the KGB any peace,” the agency notes.
The SZRU also adds that these archives help fill in the historical picture of Melnyk’s life and illustrate the drama of an era in which the struggle for Ukraine’s independence was often accompanied by years of persecution.
At the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Kyiv, a coffin containing the remains of Andriy Melnyk, a colonel in the UNR army and leader of the OUN, and his wife, Sofia Fedak-Melnyk, has been placed on public display for a memorial service.
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