- May 27, 2026
- 9:24 pm
- Ukraine
On May 27, 2026, the topic of the possible reburial of Stepan Bandera in Ukraine once again entered the public sphere. The head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory Oleksandr Alfyorov stated that Bandera’s family does not oppose such a step, but during the war, there are serious concerns about the security of the future grave.
This is not just about relocating the remains of one historical figure. Ukraine is gradually forming its own policy of restoring memory about figures buried abroad, and this process already involves Andriy Melnyk, Yevhen Konovalets, Symon Petliura, Pavlo Skoropadsky, and other figures of 20th-century Ukrainian history.
For the Israeli audience, this topic is particularly sensitive. It intersects Ukrainian national memory, the war against Russia, the complex legacy of Eastern Europe, Jewish historical trauma, and the question of how modern states build their pantheons amid political and moral disputes.
What the head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory said
Oleksandr Alfyorov stated on the national telethon that Stepan Bandera’s descendants are not against the reburial of his remains in Ukraine. However, according to him, the family takes into account military risks: the grave on Ukrainian territory may be under threat.
Alfyorov separately noted that the danger to such places of memory exists not only in Ukraine.
Even burials abroad are not always protected from political pressure, vandalism, or attempts to use memory as a tool of conflict.
In response to a clarifying question about whether specific work is currently being done on Bandera’s reburial, the head of the UINP answered cautiously: Ukraine is working on issues related to a number of historical figures, and the topic of Bandera is also being considered among them.
This is an important formulation. It does not imply an immediate decision but shows that the topic is no longer exclusively in the realm of public discussions or political statements. It has already become part of a broader state process.
Why the issue of security has become key
During a full-scale war, any symbolic places in Ukraine can become potential targets for Russia — from memorials to cemeteries, museums, and civilian infrastructure.
Therefore, Bandera’s family’s doubts do not look like a refusal but an attempt to assess the real situation.
Besides physical security, there is also a political risk. The reburial of such a figure will inevitably provoke a reaction beyond Ukraine, including in Israel, Poland, Germany, and among Jewish organizations.
For Kyiv, this means the need to act not with slogans but with a well-thought-out state procedure: with legal grounds, historical context, explanations for the international audience, and an understanding of how such decisions will be perceived by allies.
Ukraine is building a pantheon of memory: from Oles to Melnyk
The issue of returning the remains of outstanding Ukrainians has been raised in Kyiv not for the first time. In January 2017, the ashes of writer and poet Oleksandr Oles were reburied in Ukraine. He died in 1944 in Prague and was buried there. Later, the remains of Oles and his wife were exhumed because Czech rules required payment for the cemetery plot.
After this, the Ministry of Culture announced the intention to create a special commission on the reburial of outstanding Ukrainians. However, noticeable progress did not occur for a long time.
The situation changed in the conditions of war. In June 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the procedure for reburial at the National Military Memorial Cemetery of outstanding fighters for Ukraine’s independence in the 20th century.
At the end of March, the head of the President’s Office, Kyrylo Budanov, announced that proposals for the president on the creation of a Pantheon of outstanding Ukrainians would be prepared following discussions. It concerns people of Ukrainian origin who played a significant role in the country’s history but were buried abroad.
It is in this context that NAnews —Israel News | Nikk.Agency views the current discussion around Bandera: not as a separate episode around one name, but as part of a large-scale attempt by Ukraine to create its own national memorial canon during the war.
The reburial of Andriy Melnyk became the first loud signal
On May 15, the Cabinet instructed to conduct the reburial of the remains of Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofiya Fedak-Melnyk in Ukraine at the National Military Memorial Cemetery.
On May 19, a ceremony of exhumation of the ashes took place in Luxembourg. The reburial at the NMMC took place on May 25.
This step caused noticeable resonance, including beyond Ukraine. For Kyiv, it became part of the policy of restoring historical memory. For critics, it was a reason to remind about the controversial pages of the Ukrainian nationalist movement and its perception in Jewish historical memory.
That is why the possible reburial of Bandera will be even more sensitive. Bandera’s figure remains one of the most controversial in Ukrainian and European memory of the 20th century: for part of Ukrainian society, he is a symbol of the anti-Soviet struggle, for another part of the international audience — a name associated with difficult questions of nationalism, war, and attitudes towards Jews and Poles.
Who else Ukraine wants to return from abroad
On May 19, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine is negotiating the return of the body of Yevhen Konovalets — a colonel of the UNR Army, commander of the Sich Riflemen, founder and first head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.
Konovalets is buried at the Crooswijk Cemetery in Rotterdam, Netherlands. On May 25, Deputy Head of the President’s Office Iryna Vereshchuk reported that Ukraine had already received permission for his reburial and that it should happen soon.
On May 20, the acting head of the OUN and first deputy chairman of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting Bohdan Chervak stated that the return of the ashes of Yevhen Konovalets and Symon Petliura to Ukraine could soon take place.
Petliura, head of the UNR Directorate and chief ataman of the troops and fleet of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, is buried in Paris. His name also remains complex for Jewish memory due to the topic of pogroms during the Civil War, even though historians continue to debate the degree of Petliura’s personal responsibility and the political context of that period.
Oleksandr Alfyorov, in turn, separately spoke about the need to discuss the reburial of Symon Petliura and Hetman of the Ukrainian State Pavlo Skoropadsky, who is buried in Oberstdorf, Germany.
The third president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, also believes that the state should strive for the return of the ashes of Hetmans Ivan Mazepa and Pylyp Orlyk, as well as Stepan Bandera.
Why it is important for Israel to closely follow this topic
For Israel, such news is not a distant internal Ukrainian story. Ukraine is a country where Jewish communities lived for centuries, where pogroms occurred, where the tragedy of the Holocaust took place, where Jewish culture, Hasidism, Zionist thought, and modern Ukrainian-Jewish identity simultaneously developed.
Therefore, any decisions about the national pantheon in Ukraine will inevitably be perceived through several lenses at once.
On the one hand, Ukraine is fighting for the right to its own statehood and trying to regain its historical subjectivity after decades of Soviet and Russian pressure. On the other hand, the memory of the 20th century in Eastern Europe cannot be reduced to a simple formula of ‘hero or enemy.’ For the Jewish audience in Israel, it is especially important that Ukrainian memory policy does not ignore tragic pages but can speak about them openly.
This is where the main challenge for Kyiv begins. The national pantheon can become not only a place of reverence but also a space for an honest conversation about the past. If it is built only through heroization without explaining complex historical conflicts, it will inevitably create new diplomatic and public tensions.
Reburial as policy, not just ceremony
Ukraine is now effectively creating a new state tradition: to return to the homeland people who lived, fought, died, and were buried abroad due to wars, emigration, defeats, occupations, and the collapse of Ukrainian statehood in the 20th century.
In the context of the war with Russia, this acquires additional meaning. Moscow has tried for decades to control Ukrainian historical memory, imposing its labels and turning any independent Ukrainian tradition into an object of propaganda attack.
But the response to Russian propaganda should not be a mirror simplification. For Ukraine today, it is important not only to return names but also to explain why these names appear in the national memorial space, how the state sees their place in history, and where the boundaries between memory, reverence, and critical reflection lie.
Bandera’s story in this sense will become the most difficult test. The question is no longer whether it is technically possible to move the remains. The question is whether Ukraine can conduct such a process in a way that does not destroy dialogue with allies, does not devalue Jewish memory, and at the same time does not surrender its own history to Russian propaganda.
What will happen next
There is no official decision on the reburial of Stepan Bandera yet. There is a public statement by the head of the UINP, an understanding of the family’s position, an already launched state procedure for the return of a number of historical figures, and a war that makes any symbolic step more vulnerable.
Most likely, the coming months will show how far Kyiv is willing to advance in the matter of the national pantheon. After the reburial of Andriy Melnyk and preparations for the return of Yevhen Konovalets, the issue of Bandera can no longer be considered theoretical.
For Ukraine, this is a conversation about statehood and the right to its own memory. For Israel and the Jewish audience, it is a reason to closely monitor whether this memory will be honest, complex, and responsible, not just ceremonial.