UPA courier Maria Melnyk dies at 100 in Stryi

World bids farewell to liberation movement veteran

Maria Melnyk has died at the age of 100 in the city of Stryi in Lviv Oblast. The woman was known by the alias "Fialka" and was a member of the Ukrainian liberation movement. News of her passing was published on social media by the deceased's granddaughter.

Service in the OUN and UPA

Maria Melnyk joined the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists in 1943. She subsequently became a courier for the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Her main tasks included delivering secret messages between settlements, collecting funds for food and clothing for the insurgents, and assisting in transporting the wounded to places where they could receive medical care.

Soviet repression and return home

For her assistance to the UPA, Maria Melnyk spent over nine years in Soviet concentration camps. It was only in 1957, following a decision by the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR, that she was permitted to return to Ukraine.

Upon her return, the woman discovered that her family home had been demolished. It had been declared the residence of "enemies of the people". Maria Melnyk belonged to a generation of Ukrainians who faced repression, imprisonment, and the loss of their own homes for their participation in the liberation movement.