WW2

During World War 2, Ukraine was occupied by **Nazi Germany**. The German-occupied territory of Ukraine was divided between two new German administrative units: the District of Galicia of the Nazi General Government and the Reichskommissariat Ukraine¹. 

While some Ukrainians chose to resist and fight against the German occupation forces by joining the Red Army or irregular partisan units conducting guerrilla warfare against the Germans, most Ukrainians, especially in western Ukraine, had little loyalty toward the Soviet Union. This was due to the Soviet Union's repressive occupation of eastern Ukraine in the interwar years and its role in overseeing a famine in the early 1930s called the Holodomor, which resulted in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians¹.

Some Ukrainians worked with or for the Nazis against the Allied forces. Ukrainian nationalists hoped that enthusiastic collaboration would enable them to re-establish an independent state. However, their collaboration with Nazi Germany involved a series of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including participation in the Holocaust in Ukraine and massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia¹.

It is important to note that not all Ukrainians collaborated with Nazi Germany. Many Ukrainians fought on both sides during World War 2. The majority of ethnic Ukrainians, approximately 4.5 million, fought in the Red Army against the Germans². Others joined Communist partisans, including prominent commander Sydir Kovpak².

For more information on Ukrainian collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War 2, you can refer to this [Wikipedia article](^1^).

> "Ukrainian collaboration with Nazi Germany took place during the occupation of Poland and the Ukrainian SSR, USSR, by Nazi Germany during the Second World War." ¹

> "Ukrainians fought on both sides in the Second World War. By far the majority of ethnic Ukrainians, about 4.5 million, fought in the Red Army against the Germans." ²

> "In (Pres) Putin’s telling, the modern Ukrainian independence movement began not in 1917 but during World War II. Under the German occupation of Ukraine, between 1941 and 1944, some Ukrainian independence fighters aligned themselves with the Nazis, whom they viewed as saviors from Soviet oppression." ³

Source: Conversation with Bing, 9/29/2023

(1) Ukrainian collaboration with Nazi Germany - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_collaboration_with_Nazi_Germany.

(2) Second World War - Encyclopedia of Ukraine. https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CS%5CE%5CSecondWorldWar.htm.

(3) Ukrainian collaboration with Nazi Germany - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_collaboration_with_Nazi_Germany.

(4) The 20th-Century History Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-20th-century-history-behind-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-180979672/.

(5) Explainer: What was the Nazi's First Ukrainian Division? | CTV News. https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/how-was-veteran-yaroslav-hunka-s-military-unit-linked-to-the-nazis-1.6578579.