Ukrainian National Army

Ukrainian National Army (Ukrainska natsionalna armiia). A military formation within the German armed forces at the end of the Second World War. On 12 March 1945 the Ukrainian National Committee, with the approval of the German government, announced the formation of the Ukrainian National Army (UNA), which was to group approximately 220,000 Ukrainians serving in the German armed forces into one army. The committee hoped that after the defeat of the Germans the UNA would play an important role in establishing an independent Ukraine, an outcome made possible by postwar rivalry between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. With the consent of the Government-in-exile of the Ukrainian National Republic, former officers of the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic accepted key posts in the army, among them Gen Pavlo Shandruk, as UNA commander, and Gen Arkadii Valiisky, as chief of staff. The Division Galizien (approximately 16,000 men) became the First Division of the UNA, and Col P. Diachenko's antitank brigade (approximately 1,900 men) was to be the nucleus of the Second Division. Other units also volunteered to join the UNA, but military operations prevented their reassignment. By war's end the UNA headquarters still lacked operational control of the UNA units. The UNA surrendered to the British in Austria and was interned in Rimini.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]