Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence

The UNA was created on 30 June 1990 in Lviv as the Ukrainian Interparty Assembly (UMA). On 3–4 November 1990, a congress of the Ukrainian National Association (UNS) was held in Kyiv. On 11 January 1991, UNS squads headed by Yuriy Tyma guarded the Seimas Palace during the January Events in Lithuania. On 30 June 1991, about 200 UNS members held a torchlight parade in Lviv commemorating the 1941 declaration of Ukrainian independence.

During the first days of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, a UNS squad led by Vietnam War veteran Valeriy Bobrovych left for Moscow; the squad later laid the foundations for the Argo battalion. On 19 August 1991, during the struggle against the State Committee on the State of Emergency, the UNS created squads of the Ukrainian People's Self-Defense (UNSO) in Kyiv. The squads were formed around a small group of ethnic-Ukrainian Soviet army veterans of the war in Afghanistan. In December 1990 Yuriy Shukhevych, the son of Roman Shukhevych, was elected as the first leader of the UNS. Because of the 8 September 1991 Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, the sixth session of the UMA was renamed the Ukrainian National Assembly; it became known as the UNA-UNSO, due to the UNSO's close association with the UNA.

Since its 1991 independence, Ukraine has had separatist movements aiming to reunite portions of Ukraine with Russia and other neighbouring countries. UNA-UNSO stopped People's Deputy Goncharov of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union from reestablishing the Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic and the Donetsk National Guard in the Donbas. In Kyiv, the Patriotic Forum (Otyechestvyennyi forum) was abolished. In November 1991 the UNSO held a rally, and due to a brawl involving UNSO fighters the government made the first mass arrests of UNSO activists. In Odesa UNSO halted an initiative to create a Novorossiysk Republic, influencing separatist movements in Bukovina and Zakarpattia. On 7 June 1992, an UNSO group from Lviv broke up a Romanian congress in Chernivtsi which advocated the unification of northern Bukovina and Romania. In early 1993, the UNSO had a reported 4,000 members.

File:УНСО в Грузії.jpg

The UNA was registered as a political party in December 1994, and in the 1994 Ukrainian parliamentary election three UNA-UNSO members were elected as deputies to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament). In September 1995, its registration was suspended until 1997.

UNSO was registered as a public organization in Lviv, Ternopil, Rivne and Poltava Oblasts only. In practise, however, there was no distinction between the membership of both organizations.

From 1994 to 1997, UNA-UNSO members became prominent in Ukraine through a number of anti-Russian activities. UNA-UNSO deputies destroyed a Russian flag in the Verkhovna Rada, UNA-UNSO fighters joined Chechen rebels in the First Chechen War and activists organised demonstrations against Russian pop singers visiting Ukraine. UNA-UNSO took sides in Ukrainian church affairs and clashed with police during the July 1995 funeral of Patriarch Volodomyr, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate. The organisations supported Patriarch Filaret Denysenko, who was excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church, and participated in violent attempts to seize property for the new church (particularly in Rivne and Volyn Oblasts){{citation needed|date=March 2018}}. Membership peaked at around 10,000 members, about 90 percent of whom were between 18 and 35 years old. The organisation was depicted in Georgiy Gongadze's 1994 documentary film, Shadows of War.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}}

In 1997, the government of Leonid Kuchma banned the Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defence. UNA-UNSO members responded with violent street protests, resulting in over 250 arrests. Dmytro Korchynsky, one of those arrested, soon left the organisation.

In 1998, UNA-UNSO's new leaders were Andriy Shkil and Yuriy Shukhevych, the son of Ukrainian nationalist Roman Shukhevych. In the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the organisation received 0.39 percent of the vote.{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.da-ta.com.ua/mon_mainnews/838.htm Українська національна Ассамблея], Database DATA

Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian Nationalistic Self Defense members participated in the 2000–01 Ukraine without Kuchma protest campaign. In the 2002 parliamentary elections Andriy Shkil won an electoral district in Lviv Oblast and a seat in the Verkhovna Rada,[http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vd2002/webproc0e The Constituency № 121], Central Election Commission of Ukraine (2002 regular election)[http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vd2002/webproc0e Results of voting in single-mandate constituencies], Central Election Commission of Ukraine (2002 regular election) the party itself won 0.04% of the votes. In 2003 Shkil left the party,{{cite web|url=http://www.unaunso.org/article.php?id=1&subid=1&artid=74&lang=eng|title=A brief course of UNA-UNSO history UNA-UNSO :: Articles|access-date=3 March 2015}} and he has become an aide to Yulia Tymoshenko.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2006/4/3/5083.htm|title=Yulia Tymoshenko’s orbits / Ukrayinska Pravda|access-date=17 April 2008|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924125842/http://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2006/4/3/5083.htm|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/11/5/9329.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317182108/http://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news/2007/11/5/9329.htm|url-status=dead|title=The Makeup of the New Verkhovna Rada / Ukrayinska Pravda|archivedate=17 March 2008}} During the Orange Revolution UNA-UNSO members supported Viktor Yushchenko against his pro-Russian opponents, providing security for Yushchenko supporters and Orange leaders such as Yulia Tymoshenko in Kyiv's Independence Square.[http://www.ncsj.org/auxpages/010105AP_Ukraine.shtml Far-right Group Flexes During Ukraine "Revolution"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706154809/http://www.ncsj.org/AuxPages/010105AP_Ukraine.shtml |date=6 July 2011 }}, Associated Press, 1 January 2005

Six Ukrainians fought on the side of Yugoslavia in the Battle of Koshare. The commander of the volunteers was Andrej Bilecki, and he was also the one who led the volunteers into war.{{Cite web |last=mreža |first=Balkanska bezbednosna |date=2022-05-31 |title=Ukrajinci se na Košarama borili na srpskoj strani, i komandant Azova se prijavio |url=https://n1info.rs/vesti/ukrajinci-se-na-kosarama-borili-na-srpskoj-strani-i-komandant-azova-se-prijavio/ |access-date=2024-11-09 |website=N1 |language=sr-RS}}

File:Київ - Революція Гідности - Прощання з Михайлом Жизневським - 14014649.jpg during the funeral of Mikhail Zhiznevsky, 26 January 2014]]

In 2005, Yuriy Shukhevych again became the party's leader. In the 2006 parliamentary election, it failed to win parliamentary representation with 0.06 percent of the vote and did not participate in the 2007 election.

In 2008, South Ossetian attorney general Teimuraz Khugayev accused UNA-UNSO of joining a Georgian unit during the August war, but no evidence has been provided.{{cite news

|url=http://www.kommersant.com/p1080698/r_530/Russia_claims_Georgia_hired_mercenaries/

|title=Foreign Traces in the Strange War

|publisher=Kommersant

|date=25 November 2008

|access-date=30 November 2008

|last=Allenova

|first=Olga

|archive-date=4 March 2016

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030945/http://www.kommersant.com/p1080698/r_530/Russia_claims_Georgia_hired_mercenaries/

|url-status=dead

}} According to an August 2009 Russian Investigative Committee report, 200 UNA-UNSO members and soldiers from the Ukrainian Ground Forces aided Georgia during the fighting. Ukraine denied the accusation. UNA-UNSO deputy head Mykola Karpyuk said that "unfortunately", no organisation members took part in the Georgian conflict.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

UNA-UNSO participated in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election,{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vnd2012/wp400?PT001F01=900 Відомості щодо реєстрації виборчих списків кандидатів у депутати Information on the registration of electoral lists of candidates], Central Election Commission of Ukraine receiving 0.08 percent of the national vote and winning none of the five electoral districts in which they fielded candidates.{{in lang|uk}} [http://apk.rbc.ua/ukr/vyboru2012/party/p11/okrug Candidates], RBC Ukraine) and thus failed to win parliamentary representation.{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.cvk.gov.ua/vnd2012/wp300pt001f01=900.html Proportional votes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030000000/http://www.cvk.gov.ua/vnd2012/wp300pt001f01%3D900.html |date=30 October 2012 }} & [http://www.cvk.gov.ua/vnd2012/wp039pt001f01=900.html Constituency seats] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105073259/http://www.cvk.gov.ua/vnd2012/wp039pt001f01%3D900.html |date=5 November 2012 }}, Central Election Commission of Ukraine

In March 2014, Russia brought a criminal case against the party and some of its members, including party leader Oleh Tyahnybok of Svoboda, for "organizing an armed gang" which allegedly fought the Russian 76th Guards Air Assault Division during the first Chechen war.{{cite web|url=http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/195991.html|title=Russia launches criminal case against Ukraine's Tiahnybok|work=Interfax-Ukraine|access-date=30 October 2014}} The organisation's Ukrainian National Assembly political wing merged with Right Sector on 22 May 2014.

• 1990–1994 Yuriy Shukhevych
• 1994–1999 Oleh Vitovych
• 2002–? Andriy Shkil
• 2005–? Yuriy Shukhevych
• 2015–2016 Kostiantyn Fushtei
• 2016–? Valeriy Bobrovych[https://web.archive.org/web/20161116142759/http://unso.in.ua/uk/new/golovoyu-partiyi-una-unso-stav-valeriy-bobrovych Head of the UNA-UNSO party became Valeriy Bobrovych (Головою партії УНА-УНСО став Валерій Бобрович)]. UNA-UNSO party. 7 November 2016.

• 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt in Moscow (summer 1991)
• Transnistria War in Moldova (spring–summer 1992)
• War in Abkhazia (1992–93)
• Georgian Civil War (1991-93){{Cite book |last=Мирончук |first=В. |title=До Ліктя Лікоть |date= |publisher=Темпора |publication-date=2021 |pages=50}}
• Croatian War of Independence (1991-95){{Cite web |title=ХОРВАТИЯ: КИРПИЧИКИ ВОЙНЫ И МИРА - Amp |url=https://zn.ua/amp/international/horvatiya_kirpichiki_voyny_i_mira.html |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=zn.ua}}
• Bosnian War (1992-95){{Cite web |title=Михаил Поликарпов. Жертвоприношение. Откуда у парня сербская грусть? |url=http://www.kulichki.com/moshkow/MEMUARY/JUGOSLAVIA/serbia.txt |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=www.kulichki.com}}
• First Karabakh war (1988–94){{Cite web |last=LLC |first=Helix Consulting |date=2010-09-17 |title=Украинские националисты УНАО-УНСО признали, что воевали на стороне Азербайджана в Карабахе |trans-title=Ukrainian nationalist UNAO-UNSO admitted to fighting on the side of Azerbaijan in Karabakh |url=https://www.panorama.am/ru/news/2010/09/17/mikola-karpyuk/1056213 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517033224/http://www.panorama.am/ru/news/2010/09/17/mikola-karpyuk/1056213 |archive-date=2017-05-17 |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=panorama.am |language=ru}}
• First Chechen War in Russia (1995–96)
• Kosovo War in Yugoslavia (1998–99){{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vYpXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT22|isbn = 9780997896541|title = Ukraine in the Crossfire|date = 5 April 2017|publisher = SCB Distributors}}
• Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present)

File:Vakhtang Gorgasal’s Order I Rank.jpg

During the Transnistria War, UNA-UNSO members fought with Transnistrian separatists against Moldovan government forces,{{cite web|url=http://una-unso.in.ua/?page_id=2|title=УНСО|access-date=3 March 2015}} purportedly in defence of Transnistria's large ethnic Ukrainian minority.[https://books.google.com/books?id=QZr1vsDIvlUC&dq=Shukhevych%27s+son&pg=PA290 The radical right in Central and Eastern Europe since 1989] by Sabrina Ramet, Pennsylvania University Press. 1999 {{ISBN|0-271-01810-0}} (page 290 and continuing from there) Over 50 UNSO members were awarded the Defender of Transnistria Order.

In 1993, UNA-UNSO sent volunteers to the Abkhaz–Georgian conflict against Abkhaz separatists.[https://books.google.com/books?id=QefWeesOFDoC&dq=UNA-UNSO+Georgia&pg=PA349 Democratic Changes and Authoritarian Reactions in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova (Democratization and Authoritarianism in Post-Communist Societies)], Cambridge University Press, 1997, {{ISBN|0521597323}} (page 349)[https://books.google.com/books?id=rhKYfA5x3eYC&dq=UNA-UNSO+Georgia&pg=PA173 State Building and Military Power in Russia and the New States of Eurasia (International Politics of Eurasia)], M. E. Sharpe, 1995, {{ISBN|1563243601}} (page 173) The UNA-UNSO Argo unit joined the Georgian side against Russian-backed Abkhaz forces, and some volunteers joined the Sokhumi Battalion of the Marine Infantry Forces of Georgia. A CPT Ustym squad prevented an amphibious assault of Russian forces near Sokhumi, sinking a Russian military motorboat. Seven UNSO members died near Sokhumi, and 30 members received the Order of Vakhtang Gorgasali medal. The UNA-UNSO units did not lose a battle in the civil war.

• Sokhumi raid (June 1993)
• Starushkino village ambush (15 July 1993)
• Shromi village assault (17 July 1993)
• Khomi defence (4 October 1993)
• Samtredia defence (17 October 1993)

File:131 ОРБ ЗСУ.png

UNSO had also fought in the Russo-Ukrainian War as part of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps{{Cite news |title=In Poland, Ukrainian Donbas War Veteran Faces Extradition To Russia |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/in-poland-ukrainian-donbas-war-veteran-faces-extradition-to-russia/30263595.html |access-date=2022-04-24 |newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=11 November 2019 }} and the Territorial defence battalions 131st Separate Reconnaissance Battalion "UNSO",{{cite web | url=https://unso.in.ua/articles/131-y-rozvidbat-kurin-unso-narodzhenyy-viynoyu.html | title=131-й розвідбат (курінь УНСО): народжений війною | date=4 April 2016 }}{{Cite news |date=16 March 2015 |title=Volunteer battalions in eastern Ukraine: who are they? {{!}} UACRISIS.ORG|newspaper=Ukraine crisis media center |url=http://uacrisis.org/20026-volunteer-battalions-eastern-ukraine |url-status=live |access-date=22 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218193321/http://uacrisis.org/20026-volunteer-battalions-eastern-ukraine |archive-date=18 December 2019}} 1st Recon Company UNSO and 55th UNSO Battalion.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} It also fought in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.{{Cite web |last=Ponomarenko |first=Illia |author-link=Illia Ponomarenko |title=EXPLAINER: What to expect from the Battle of Donbas, Russia's new offensive |url=https://kyivindependent.com/national/explainer-what-to-expect-from-the-battle-of-donbas-russias-new-offensive/ |access-date=21 April 2022 |website=Kyiv Independent|date=21 April 2022 }}

The Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence 1994 party platform envisioned Kyiv as the centre of a new, pan-Slavic, eastern military bloc. International-security expert Andrew McGregor said in 2006 that the UNA-UNSO "might be best characterized as an influential fringe movement" and "its high visibility belies its limited numbers." Its anthem is "Stay, my love, don't cry, honey", a reprise of "Bella ciao".{{in lang|uk}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqEu9CXwAUY УНСО], YouTube

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• Yuriy Tyma
• Andriy Shkil

• :Category:Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence politicians
• St Volodymyr's Cathedral ownership controversy
• Tetiana Chornovol

{{Reflist}}

• [http://unso.in.ua/ UNA-UNSO Official party web page]
• [https://vk.com/unso_ua UNA-UNSO Official party blog in VK]

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