Overview
- The Verkhovna Rada voted to pass Bill 15360 establishing a Ukrainian National Pantheon with 287 votes in favor, a vote that took place on July 1.
- The measure still requires the president’s signature to become law and the Culture Ministry said the pantheon would be located on the Kiev‑Pechersk Lavra grounds pending parliamentary approval of any reburials.
- Ukrainian officials have indicated the pantheon could include 20th century nationalist figures linked to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the UPA, and authorities have already pursued practical steps such as a Dutch permit to repatriate Yevhen Konovalets and the May reburial of Andrii Melnyk.
- Poland has reacted strongly, with President Karol Nawrocki revoking Volodymyr Zelensky’s Order of the White Eagle and several Ukrainian officials subsequently renouncing Polish honors after a separate decision to name a unit for UPA fighters.
- The plan reopens disputed memory of the 1940s Volyn violence, with historians offering widely different casualty estimates and analysts warning the row could affect security cooperation, refugee support and political ties between the two neighbors.