Petro Fedun

German forces were expelled from Galicia as a result of the Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive in the summer of 1944.^[13] For Fedun and other members of the OUN-B and UPA, however, the war was far from at an end.^[12] At the same time as the German defeat, Fedun joined the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council,^[14] a political body established by the OUN-B. He also began to rise through the ranks of the UPA, obtaining the rank of senior bulavnyi on 1 October 1944. The next month, he joined the political education office of the Leadership of the OUN, under the leadership of Yakiv Busel [uk].^[11]

According to historian Volodymyr Marchuk, after the death of Yosyp Pozychaniuk [uk]^[14] in December 1944,^[15] Fedun became leader of the Main Propaganda Cell and Information Service.^[14] Volodymyr Hinda [uk], also a historian, has disputed this, saying that Fedun was appointed as head of the Main Propaganda Cell and the information service of the Main Military Staff upon the 1945 deaths of Busel and propagandist Dmytro Maivskyi [uk]. Hinda states that at this time Fedun had acquired a reputation among members of the OUN underground for his oratical and journalistic skills.^[7]

Fedun authored a directive of the Main Propaganda Cell titled "On Some Political and Propaganda Errors", published 28 January 1946. Fedun's work was significant in determining the publicly stated ideology of the UPA. It called on the UPA's political educators to refer to Bolshevism as a distinct, incorrect form of communism, and to downplay negative references to the Russian people, including by referring to them as Asiatic. Fedun also called on political educators to cease pejoratively referring to the Soviets as "red", saying that "the fight under the red flag is being waged in all the world, and this is a just fight." Simultaneously, the directive instructed educators to describe the United Nations as a reactionary and imperialist body, and to downplay the Nuremberg trials.^[16] Fedun expressed opposition to working with the Polish Home Army, as well as the Romanian Iron Guard and other anti-communist insurgencies in Central and Eastern Europe.^[17]

Fedun also took aim at illiteracy among the UPA's ranks, particularly in propaganda, creating one person to proofread such works. Fedun further encouraged the adoption of the 1946 Soviet Ukrainian textbook by Leonid Bulakhovskyi [uk] among the UPA, editing it to remove elements of Russification from Ukrainian.^[18] Other works produced by Fedun during this time period, among them The Concept of a Self-Governing Ukraine and the Basic Tendency of the Modern World's Ideological-Political Development (1946), Ukraine is Dying! Who is to Blame for This? (1948), and Why the USSR Must Be Rebuilt on the Principle of Independent National States (1950), would become hallmarks of ideological propaganda distributed to soldiers of the UPA at this time. Fedun's activities in organising the printing and publication of pro-UPA materials throughout Galicia was also remarkably successful - around one hundred printing houses were under his control, with one Drohobych Oblast printer having a circulation of 300,000 in the winter of 1949–1950 alone.^[9]

Throughout the early post-war period, Fedun continued to rapidly rise through the ranks; he acquired the rank of standard-bearer in April 1945, followed by a promotion to lieutenant two months later. He would be further promoted to sotnik in January 1946.^[11] As a commander, Fedun had a fearsome reputation; on one occasion in 1946, he threatened to execute a cook for falling asleep while working, and on another occasion in the winter of 1948–1949, he executed a cook for putting more butter in his own kasha than that of anyone else.^[7]

In 1948, Fedun published what would go on to be his most successful work. Who are the Banderites and What are They Fighting For?, published in both Russian and Ukrainian, served to encourage those loyal to the Soviet government or otherwise opposed to the UPA to reconsider their position. According to historian Dmytro Vedienieiev, it was among the most popular propaganda works of the UPA during this time period. The death of UPA leader Roman Shukhevych in March 1950 also proved fortunate for Fedun's career advancement. Vasyl Kuk was selected as Shukhevych's successor, and Fedun received two new positions: deputy commander of the UPA and Deputy General Secretary of the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council.^[19] He was also promoted to major in July of the same year, and received a final promotion to the rank of colonel in October 1951.^[11]

In a classified 1 December 1951 intelligence assessment, the MGB stated that Fedun had gone into opposition against Bandera's supporters within the UPA. According to the MGB's assessment, Fedun and Vasyl Okhrymovych [uk] were the leaders of the reformist faction, which was supported by the American Central Intelligence Agency. This was contrary to the Banderites, who were believed to be backed by the British MI6.^[20] Prior to 1951 Fedun had sought to place himself as a mediator to other members of the OUN and UPA, such as Shukhevych. In particular, he advocated for what he described as a compromise on the renaming of the OUN, a cause pursued by reformists. Rather than removing the term "nationalists" from the name, as reformists desired, he sought to suffix the group's name with the slogan "Independence, Socialism, Democracy".^[21]

Hinda states that Who are the Banderites and What are They Fighting For? led the Soviet government to focus on eliminating Fedun. A criminal case into Fedun began in 1949, overseen by the Ministry of State Security (MGB) and given the codename of Operation Jackal. Operation Jackal's scope was broadened in 1950, with a 20-man team being tasked with finding and killing Fedun. Several attempts were unsuccessfully made to capture Fedun prior to his death, including one case in which case MGB agents posed as the deceased Shukhevych.^[7]

In the autumn of 1951, by now dealing with direct attacks from MGB officers, Fedun travelled to Zhydachiv Raion, where he was placed under the guard of UPA commander Roman Kravchuk [uk]. The MGB received information in December of that year that a member of the OUN Leadership was hiding in the villages of Vyshniv or Novoshyny [uk].^[9] A total of 4,574 officers were devoted to this final stage of Operation Jackal, occurring from 21 to 28 December 1951. All paths out of the area between Vyshniv and Novoshyny were blocked, and a kryivka [uk] was soon discovered. In the ensuing battle, two UPA commanders, Kravchuk and Bohdan Pankiv, were killed. At around 23:30 on 23 December, cadets participating in the operation as part of their training discovered another kryivka from a steam vent in the ground. Although they were given the chance to surrender, the UPA soldiers in the kryivka refused. Seeing no possibility of escaping, they chose to burn the bunker and shoot themselves instead. Following the fire, four bodies were recovered by the MGB, belonging to Fedun and three others.^[11]

Since the 1989–1991 Ukrainian revolution Fedun's image has been rehabilitated as an alternative to the new Soviet man, with particular focus on Fedun's knowledge of and pride in Ukrainian history and his perceived willingness to place the good of Ukraine above all else.^[22]

Self-described as a socialist, Fedun was an ideologue of the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism present in the OUN-B's reformist wing. In a 28 January 1946 internal memo on propaganda, Fedun expressed opposition to specifically using the term "red" as a pejorative against the Soviets and instead advocated for the Soviets to be described as opponents of real socialism. In the same memo, he also positively assessed the electoral victories of the British Labour Party and the French Section of the Workers' International, viewing them as ideological contemporaries because "we are for the destruction of people's exploitation of people, for the destruction of the capitalist system."^[17]

Fedun additionally expressed opposition to imperialism globally, basing his resistance to the United Nations and support for socialist revolutions globally upon such principles.^[16] He further supported the Third Supreme Assembly of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, expressly backing the Supreme Assembly's provisions on separation of church and state and private ownership of land.^[23]