Vasyl Kuk

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Stepanovych and the family name is Kuk.

Vasyl Stepanovych Kuk (Ukrainian: Василь Степанович Кук; 11 January 1913 – 9 September 2007) was a Ukrainian nationalist activist and militant who was the last leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, following the death of Roman Shukhevych. In 1954, he was captured by Soviet KGB troops and spent six years in prison without a court sentence.

Vasyl Kuk
Kuk in January 2007
Native name	Василь Степанович Кук
Nickname(s)	Koval
Born	(1913-01-11)11 January 1913 Krasne, Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine)
Died	9 September 2007(2007-09-09) (aged 94) Kyiv, Ukraine
Allegiance	Ukrainian Insurgent Army
Years of service	1942–1954
Battles / wars	World War II Anti-Soviet resistance by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
Alma mater	Catholic University of Lublin University of Kyiv

Biography

Vasyl Stepanovych Kuk was born in the village of Krasne in Austria-Hungary (now in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine) on 11 January 1913 to a family of railway workers. He was baptised in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church five days after his birth. Kuk was a gymnasium student in the city of Zolochiv, and he later studied law at the Catholic University of Lublin. There, Kuk became active in several Ukrainian youth organisations, such as Plast, Sokil and Prosvita.

Kuk joined the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, a militant Ukrainian nationalist group, in 1929. In 1937 he went underground to escape the Polish police. In 1941, he became one of the OUN's leaders. During World War II, he headed an OUN-organized anti-Nazi underground in Dnipropetrovsk Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Dnipro, Ukraine) from 1942 to 1943, before returning to western Ukraine. He led the People's Revolutionary Liberation Organisation, a socialist organ of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in Volhynia, as well as the UPA's Southern Operational Group.

After leader Roman Shukhevych's death in 1950, Kuk assumed the role of commander of the UPA and of the OUN in Ukraine. Kuk was captured by Soviet forces in 1954. After six years of imprisonment and interrogation, he was amnestied and allowed to move to Kyiv. After obtaining a philosophy degree from University of Kyiv, he worked at Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR before his eventual dismissal as an undesirable following the publication of his book Marxism-Leninism about the Ukrainian National Question. In the 1990s he became active in UPA veteran affairs.

Statement to the Ukrainians

In 1960 Vasyl Kuk wrote an open letter. He directed his statement to the Ukrainians living outside the Soviet Union. Kuk read his letter over the Soviet radio on 19 September 1960. His letter was then reprinted by the Soviet press and eventually by the newspapers in the US and Canada.

In the letter Kuk admits his anti-Bolshevik activity before, during and after World War II, partly explaining it with his own "misguidance" and partly deploring it. Next he states that he had been arrested, but later released by decree of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR and now along with his wife is a "free citizen of Ukrainian SSR."

The main part of the letter is devoted to the proof that there is no longer any need for underground resistance in Ukraine and that rebellion against Communism is synonymous with the rebellion against the Ukrainian nation. Kuk stated that although it may be true that in the times of the "personality cult" of Stalin the conditions were not too favorable, but not really as bad, as the nationalists indicate and now under Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev things are truly fine and if you do not believe it then "come and see for yourself."

Death and burial

Kuk died on 9 September 2007, in his apartment in Kyiv. His funeral was held in Kyiv at the Kyiv City Teacher's House before his body was transported to Lviv, where the funeral service continued. Kuk was buried in Krasne.

References

Bibliography

• Kentii, Anatolii (2008). Smolii, V. A. (ed.). "КУК Василь Степанович" [KUK, Vasyl Stepanovych]. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Kyiv: Institute of History of Ukraine. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
• "Свідотство про народження та хрещення Василя Кука від 17.02.1931 року" [Birth and baptismal certificate of Vasyl Kuk, 17.02.1931]. Electronic Archive of the Ukrainian Liberation Movement (in Latin and Ukrainian). 17 February 1931. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
• Vedenieiev, D. V. (2016). Dziuba, I. M.; Zhukovskyi, A. I.; Zhelezniak, M. H. (eds.). "Кук Василь Степанович" [Kuk, Vasyl Stepanovych]. Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine (in Ukrainian). National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Shevchenko Scientific Society. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
• Marchuk, I. V. (2001). "Невідомі документи Народно-визвольної революційної організації" [Unknown documents of the People's Revolutionary Liberation Organisation]. Archives of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 4–5 (247): 166–177 – via Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.
• "The Mysterious "Open Letter"" (PDF). The Ukrainian Weekly. Vol. LXVII, no. 237. 10 December 1960. pp. 2–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 November 2024.
• "Помер останній командувач УПА Василь Кук" [Vasyl Kuk, final UPA commander, dies]. BBC News Ukrainian. 9 September 2007.

External links

• Encyclopedia of Ukraine entry
• Lubomyr Luciuk, Professor of Geography, Royal Military College of Canada, Globe and Mail, September 15th, 2007