In a special torch-lit ceremony Thursday night, the neo-Nazi commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps Andriy Biletsky led a special consecration ceremony, bonding the two military units that he created, the National Guard’s 1st ‘Azov’ Corps and the 3rd Army Corps, with the exhumed remains of the founder of the OUN, Yevhen Konovalets.
The Azov formation stated that by “[t]ouching the coffin of Colonel Konovalets with banners during the consecration ceremony, the units received a symbolic blessing to continue the struggle for freedom and independence with the eternal enemy.” Biletsky laid his hand on the coffin and stated: “Today, two generations meet here. Colonel Yevhen Konovalets personifies the generation of Sich Riflemen, Black Cossacks, fighters of the UMO, OUN and UPA. We are the generation of the Maidans, the ATO and the great Russian-Ukrainian war. Each of the previous generations received the Ukrainian business unfinished. We are the first to have a real chance to break the heavy chain and bring the work of the colonel and all great predecessors to the end.”
After quoting its leader, the 3rd Army statement explained: “Yevhen Konovalets was a great warrior and creator of the Ukrainian nationalist movement… On the principles of Konovalets, commander Andriy Biletskyi founded the Azov Regiment, the Military School named after Colonel Yevhen Konovalets, the Third Assault Brigade, the Third Army Corps, the Cornet Service, the Patronage Service Angels of the Troika,’ the Veteran Corps, the Youth Movement ‘Centuria.’ We preserve the continuity of the Ukrainian military tradition in order to finish what Konovalets started. The empire that killed him will be destroyed!”
