Zelensky names commando unit after WWII Nazi collaborators | 27 May 2026 | Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has renamed an elite commando unit, adding a dedication to World War II-era nationalist paramilitaries responsible for massacres of Poles and Jews. According to a decree signed on Tuesday, the Special Operations Center North will bear the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA,” referring to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the military wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). The change reflects “the revival of the historic traditions of the national army,” the document said. The OUN sought to establish an ethnically and religiously homogeneous Ukrainian state and collaborated with Nazi Germany during the early stages of the invasion of the Soviet Union.