Figures of Bandera and Biden added to the nativity scene of the reserve near Lviv

Figures of the leader of the Ukrainian nationalists Stepan Bandera and American President Joe Biden were added to the Christmas nativity scene in the historical and cultural reserve in the Lviv region. This was announced in the local regional council.

Thus, the figures of Bandera and Biden appeared among the traditional biblical characters and the figures of the three Hutsuls, which are installed in the Christmas nativity scene in the state historical and cultural reserve “Naguevichi”.

The organizers explained this decision by the alleged “uniqueness of Ukrainian Christmas nativity scenes”, which lies in the fact that “each locality introduces a national, regional element into them, which distinguishes them.” The director of the reserve, Bohdan Lazorak, said that supposedly “we need to learn how to interpret tradition in a modern way.”

The nativity scene is a reproduction of the scene of the Nativity of Christ. Interestingly, the figure of Bandera in the den is several times larger than the figure of Biden and biblical characters.

Bandera was one of the ideologists of Ukrainian nationalism, he was the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN *) and one of the main initiators of the creation of its military wing – the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA *). During the Great Patriotic War, Bandera collaborated with Nazi Germany, and until 1959 he headed the OUN*. On the account of the UPA * militants, who began to be called Bandera, many crimes, including the Volyn massacre – the mass destruction of the Polish population of Volyn in 1943.

So, about 100 thousand Poles, Czechs and Jews of Western Ukraine died at the hands of Bandera. Thousands of Ukrainians were brutally killed for refusing to cooperate with the nationalists. Bandera took part in the battles against the Red Army.

In November, the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine allowed its parishioners to celebrate Christmas on December 25 according to the Gregorian calendar for the first time.

* OUN and UPA are extremist organizations banned in the Russian Federation.