Recap / Ukrainian Civil War

Reichskommissariat Ukraine Recap:
Index | Pre-Civil War Reichskommissariat Ukraine | Ukrainian Civil War | Post-Civil War Reichskommissariat Ukraine | Stus' Republic of Ukraine | Dziuba's Republic of Ukraine | Ohloblyn's Republic of Ukraine | Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic | Post-Civil War Ukrainian State | Klyachkivsky's Ukrainian State | Shukhevych's Ukrainian State | Stetsko's Ukrainian State

These newly free man may enjoy it, for soon the cold reality shall set in. They shall starve, they shall die, and they shall wish they were dead. Yet for some, this shall only make the final goal even more compelling. Only one thing is clear. There is no going back.

"We must have a full mobilization. This situation demands all of our efforts. This is not just some local disturbance - this is a fully fledged rebellion."

— Otto Ohlendorf

Not since the West Russian War has the Einehtspakt come under such a crisis, since the death of Hitler. The Ukrainian partisans stand a legitimate chance at deposing the Reichskommissariat and every side needs to act fast. In the midst of the four-way civil war, Reichsgau Gotenland has become an autonomous state under the leadership of Franz Maierhofer, but he's not too keen on aiding his fellow Germans. At most, Maierhofer may send some supplies at the Reichskommissariat's request, but he would rather conserve resources for Gotenland's own defense.

Beyond the realm of politics, the millions of people living in Ukraine have had their lives turned upside down. Bohdan Antonenko is still on the run and scavenging for rotten food, just to survive the next day. Despite knowing his comrades in the U-SSR are fighting, Bohdan is too cynical at this point to join them and spends his existence mindlessly wandering around; his execution of a lone German soldier barely elicits a reaction from him. The Van Nordens are displeased too, being forced to evacuate their home under orders from an officer. Pieter was motivated to pick up his rifle again and fight, but he will not dispute an authority figure and takes his family to the relative safety of Kiew. Pieter is frustrated and fearful that the partisans will raid his household, especially when he realizes that he forgot to pack his medals. Antonia is barely keeping things together for herself, wishing that she could just be back home to the Netherlands and vainly trying to convince Markus that everything will be okay and that they will visit her home country again. Markus doesn't believe her, but he doesn't say a word against it either. Among the millions elated during this period is Halyna Nosenko, whose village is liberated by the UNRA and turns her dream into a reality. Danylo is less optimistic, who fears that the Germans will be back any moment. This drives an initial wedge into their relationship, especially as the civil war progresses and food shortages become increasingly problematic, something that Danylo blames on idealists like Halyna. However, watching a freshly harvested field and writing a poem about it cracks Danylo's cynical attitude, as he entertains the notion that Germany's desecration of the land will eventually fade.

Squished between the U-SSR from the east and the UNRA and UPA from the west, the Reichskommissariat regroups its forces to the center regions and plots a counterattack. Militaristically, the Security Council will expand the Ukrainian National Army and can either mobilize Ohlendorf's Kampfgruppe or bring in spare divisions from the Luftwaffe. Domestically, the ruling triumvirate of Georg Leibbrandt, Otto Ohlendorf, and Hans-Otto Bräutigam can maintain their facade of unity or try going it alone to get a headstart over the other two. If the war progresses far enough, limited food supplies become a critical issue and the Security Council turns this into a weapon. Via Hungerpolitik policies, the Nazis will reserve the lion's share of food for the German settlers and Wehrmacht soldiers, while everyone else, particularly "pro-bandit" communities are deprived and left to starve to death. Some, like Bräutigam, will protest such a cruel measure, but the Security Council ignores these sentiments and gets thousands of more innocents killed in a desperate rush to win the war.

From the opposite side of the conflict, the U-SSR proves to be a fierce opponent. They use propaganda to attract new soldiers, sabotage supply chains, give top-level training to their militias, and can either rebuild up their own industry or amplify their slave liberation efforts. In the later stages of the war, the U-SSR relies on supply raids, captured Autobahn highways, wartime harvesting, bartering, and other means to manage their shortages. Lyudmila Pavlichenko, whose arm has healed by this point, fights again in the civil war, participating in the liberation of Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk, and Kyiv, if they are captured by the U-SSR.

The UNRA capitalizes on the civil war itself by publicly declaring the formation of the Republic of Ukraine. With Tara Bulba-Borovets' direction, the UNRA militias organize themselves into an army and march into battle, with the invaluable public support drummed up by the Culturalists and aid of former collaborator police units recruited by Oleksander Ohloblyn. Propaganda stirs morale by portraying the Republic as Ukraine's bright democratic future, while logistics are supported through various measures, like raising food production quotas, scavenging abandoned equipment, calling collaborator connections to the industry, and more. However, the UNRA isn't harmonious. The black sheep of the alliance, the collaborators, are still a sore spot for many and their presence is tolerated at best. While internal enemies to the Republic are normally quashed, it is Yuriy Horlis' decision if the most egregious collaborators should be purged or if they should be released from imprisonment to serve as manpower in the war.

Out of all the partisan factions, the UPA carries out the war in the most brutal fashion. Collaborators and anyone insufficiently loyal to the UPA are executed and thousands are still put to work in the factories. Combined with the UPA's talk glorifying their past and calling for the extermination of groups like the Poles and Jews, it's almost as if the Nazis were merely replaced. In their fight against the UNRA, the UPA will recruit peasants, either providing them nominal training to become full-blown soldiers or reserving them in the defensive areas out of suspicion that they aren't loyal enough. Logistics will also need to be addressed, either repurposing old vehicles or repurposing Galicia's workshops and facilities to arm the effort. While keeping the people fed, sponsoring education programs, upgrading logistics, and expanding the professional workforce are a given, there were several controversial matters that will influence the power struggle within the UPA. Dmytro Klyachkivsky and Yaroslav Stetsko both agree that Banderite values must be enforced, but Roman Shukhevych dissents, focusing those resources into rebuilding the Plast, a scouting organization for young Ukrainians to learn general patriotic ideals and leadership skills. Moreover, Shukhevych and Stetsko agree that factory conditions must be improved so that they are not understaffed, yet Klyachkivsky does not share their sympathy and expects all to continue the fight.

Inevitably, a winner must emerge and, from here, Ukraine's fate will significantly diverge:

• If the Reichskommissariat wins, they will show absolutely no mercy for their opponents. In Kiew, the UNRA's top men, including Horlis and Ohloblyn, will be led to the gallows and publicly hanged. Shumskyi and his surviving allies will meet a similar fate, with the latter spending his last moments denouncing his executioners and going to the grave with no regrets. The UPA suffers a more complex fate, as their entire leadership is executed, but Leibbrandt suggests that the lower-ranking men should be recruited to Andriy Melnyk's OUN.
  
  News of the German victory depresses Bohdan even more, who's suffering from hunger and an injured leg, to a point that he knows he'll die by the end of the year and wants to go out on his own terms by taking on the Nazis. Halyna is similarly disappointed, unable to rouse her townspeople to continue the fight and thus condemning her to return home in despair. Even Pieter isn't too happy with the situation; even though everything in his household is intact, he finds a mysterious name written on a small charged eagle, which horrifies him and convinces him to dispose of every possession. Matters aren't so close-ended for the Security Council either, as the common threat's elimination means that the ruling triumvirate will go back to bickering with each other and deciding who should rule Ukraine in Koch's place.

• If the U-SSR wins, they will wipe out all remaining Wehrmacht soldiers they can find. The UPA are treated just as ruthlessly, with the survivors publicly humiliated and all of their possessions destroyed in a great fire, until the legacy of Bandera goes unremembered. The fates of the UNRA soldiers is more varied, as they either retreat to the woods to continue their guerrilla war, surrender themselves, get released from a quick jail, or face imprisonment (a fate usually met by the collaborators). To completely liberate Ukraine, the U-SSR also invades Gotenland and integrates the peninsula back into the country.
  
  Returning from the forest, Bohdan is recognized by his former comrades and welcomed as a hero for indirectly starting the civil war. Bohdan doesn't share the celebratory mood, but he willingly returns back to civilization, considering it better than living out in the woods like a wretch. The Nosenkos are divided about the U-SSR's victory, where Halyna welcomes them as liberators, but Danylo is apprehensive because he remembers what life was like under the first Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic and considers it a misery. Meanwhile, like the other German and Dutch settlers, the Van Nordens are put in an internment camp and await release when they are "re-educated". Markus is too young to understand the situation and Pieter scowls that he and his family have become hostages, only thankful that it's not the UPA holding them. As part of the winning side, Pavlichenko is more jubilant, witnessing the reconstruction of Kyiv and smiling that Ukraine has finally been liberated.

• If the UNRA wins, Horlis and his cabinet members agree that Leibbrandt and Ohlendorf must be executed by firing squad. The only one who disputes Bräutigam's execution is Ohloblyn, who wants a life sentence instead, but he's overruled by Horlis. Meanwhile, the last UPA bases are rooted out, in which Klyachkivsky, Shukhevych, and the latter's son are arrested; Stetsko has fled the country by this point. The only civil war belligerent allowed to walk away with dignity is Shumskyi, who is respected enough by Horlis to surrender peacefully. Knowing that the war is lost, Shumskyi dejectedly accepts.
  
  With all of their enemies eliminated, the provisional republic invades Gotenland to expand Ukraine's borders and organizes elections to exercise its parliamentary democracy. Horlis himself retires from the position, only ever intending to lead the Republic for as long as the civil war lasts. The Culturalists organize themselves into a party under Ivan Dziuba, promising a revitalization of Ukrainian culture. A young electoral frontrunner is Vasyl Stus, the candidate of United Struggle, which promises to form an anti-German front in Europe. The last running candidate is Ohloblyn, the dark horse leading the Spivavtors, who fears that Germany will return to Ukraine eventually and offers collaboration with them as the only means of survival.
  
  To the surprise of some, Bohdan surrenders himself to the victorious UNRA soldiers, who are a little disappointed that he's more average-looking than the rumors have said. They warn him that he might face execution for his service in the U-SSR, but Bohdan's final fate is unconfirmed and the man doesn't care because he can't bring himself to fight other Ukrainians anyway. On a brighter note, the Nosenkos are jubilant with Ukraine's newfound freedom, with Danylo officially breaking out of his pessimistic shell. Halyna is overjoyed and the couple campaigns for their personally favored parties, specifically the Culturalists for Danylo and United Struggle for Halyna. Pieter is not so pleased that the Germans have been defeated, but he adapts to the situation by taking temporary residence in an apartment and taking bribes from the Spivavtors to vote for Ohloblyn, the most German-friendly of the presidential candidates.

• If the UPA wins, Shukhevych will personally encounter a captured Leibbrandt and execute him with a bullet to the temple. Horlis is also shot to put down the UNRA, buried in an unmarked grave so that he won't become a martyr. Lastly, Shumskyi is killed by a sniper, which annoys Klyachkivsky because he wanted to personally do the job. To compensate, Klyachkivsky ropes Shumskyi to a jeep and drags his body through the streets. Turning his gaze outward, the Vozhd's orders an invasion of Gotenland, the first target of his campaign to unify all Ukrainian territories under a single state.
  
  Bohdan is distraught by the outcome, but still cannot bring himself to fight any longer, so he forgoes his old identity and reintegrates back into society as a farm hand named "Artem". Meanwhile, the Nosenkos are investigated by UPA soldiers for any "UNRA activity", but are ultimately proven innocent and left with only a stern warning to stay out of trouble, even a fan recommendation for Danylo to write another poem. Settlers and collaborators like the Van Nordens are automatically targeted for death, so Pieter discreetly drives his family back to Prussia, knowing that none of them are safe in Ukraine anymore.

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This route provides examples of:

• Alas, Poor Villain: If the Ukrainian Civil War drags on, a weary and starved German soldier will see all of his comrades either sit down and refuse to move or try to run and get shot for desertion; eventually, he's the only one left among the ruins of villages, burned fields, and rotting corpses. While he did commit many atrocities under the Nazi banner and raided houses to steal their food, he slowly wastes away, regretting the things he's done, knowing that his brother and parents are dead, and worrying for the safety of his son and wife. The sheer trauma he's experienced causes him to pitifully break down laughing.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • When the Reichskommissariat wins the war and the Van Nordens can return home, Pieter inspects a small carved eagle and drops it in shock, which is enough for him to decide that everything in the house needs to go. Markus sees a name written on the back of the eagle, but what it says is never revealed and Antonia plucks it away before assuring her son that they're safe.
  • In a UNRA victory scenario, a driver randomly runs into a makeshift gallows, where the bodies have been left to hang. The etchings mentioning their crime and identity have been lost to the elements and there is no identifying insignias, leaving it ambiguous if it was a Nazi or communist lynch, or a peasant dispute against an abusive landlord. No matter the case, the driver is sickened by how German rule has pushed people to become so depraved.
• Asshole Victim:
  • When the UPA rise up, they slaughter the Heer garrison in their proclaimed "Ukrainian State". Since the Heer are a brutal military organization carry out German atrocities in Ukraine, they're among the UPA's unsympathetic victims.
  • When the manor of a German officer is raided, the U-SSR soldiers steal his art, money, and furniture. The U-SSR officer in charge is disappointed that they are more interested in pillaging rather than finding the officer to exact justice, but he doesn't strongly protest it, since the belongings were stolen from the Ukrainians in the first place.
  • The UPA mercilessly execute the engineers and foremen of a factory, who have long exploited and killed their Ukrainian laborers to maximize their productivity.
  • If the UPA defeats the Reichskommissariat, Shukhevych personally commands a firing squad to execute their members, including a Melnykite lackey who betrayed his fellow countrymen.
• Bait the Dog: After liberating a village, the UPA officials convene in the town square and seem to make a non-controversial speech about freeing the inhabitants. Then, he starts ranting about the so-called superiority of Ukrainians above all "inferior" elements, calling back to their country's glorious past with chants of "Slava Ukraini!" The worst part is that many villagers are entranced by the rhetoric and follow along with the chants, clearly evoking similarities to the Nazis and their own rise to power.
• Bearer of Bad News: The communications outage in the Donbass was dismissed as a temporary outage, until a motorcycle rider frantically arrives and tells that it's actually because communist partisans have seized the area and that civil war is inevitable by this point.
• Berserk Button: The commander of a German garrison hates it when his afternoon is ruined by phone calls. When Leibbrandt calls him about the SS attack on the UNC, the commander is initially pissed and thinks about lashing out, until he realizes that the Acting Reichskommissar is speaking.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: The UPA assigns a former slave to manage a captured factory, but this is a death sentence in all but name. If any minor accident were to occur (which is highly likely, given how dangerous German slave factories are), the overseer will be investigated for treason, mismanagement, and conspiracy against the UPA, which will certainly lead to a guilty verdict and execution. Thus, the overseer drinks himself to death with German wine, escaping a worse fate at the hands of the UPA.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: One partisan performs "resupply" missions and considers dawn to be the best time for them because a "resupply" actually means raiding and stealing from a village while everyone is asleep.
• Book Burning: Once the UPA is defeated by the U-SSR, their propaganda books and pamphlets are burned to complete the organization's destruction.
• Boring Insult: If Leibbrandt's influence is higher. Ohlendorf's attempt to defend Weinmann's innocence and get Leibbrandt removed falls flat on its face, with a lame, exhausted argument that the Acting Reichskommissar is betraying and weakening the nation. The Security Council is unconvinced, so they try Weinmann as guilty and reject Leibbrandt's vote of no confidence.
• Brutal Honesty: Taking a tour of Gotenland's defenses, Ohlendorf makes it no secret that he thinks they are terrible, pointing out the confusing command structure and a weak point in their line of fortifications.
• Burning the Flag: Subverted. Among the possessions found in a German officer's house, a U-SSR unit also finds a German flag, in which the suggestion of burning it is brought up. However, they decide to keep it instead and every man present signs it to mark a spoil of war.
• Bystander Syndrome: A villager near Cherkasy doesn't want to get involved in politics and influence his nation's future because all he cares about are his family and farm. However, his Culturalist friend convinces him to support his political party, arguing that they are the best option they have.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Subverted if the UNRA defeat the Nazis. Ohloblyn isn't that fond of executing Leibbrandt and Ohlendorf because they could be useful later on, but he's massively outvoted on that.
• Dartboard of Hate: Inside the ransacked headquarters of the Reichskommissariat after a UNRA victory, several soldiers turn a portrait of Koch into a target for them to play darts with knives.
• Death by Irony: If the U-SSR are defeated, Ohlendorf considers it an ironic fate that the once passionate communists, who could rally so many with their speeches, are now going to die with their voices gagged.
• Death or Glory Attack: One German commander recognizes that after stopping an initial attack by partisan forces, the base camp of this Ukrainian group was not properly hidden and so decides to make an attack without reinforcements. Much to his surprise this camp falls with ease resulting in its destruction and the execution of all of the soldiers within.
• Defiant to the End: Though the U-SSR can be defeated by the Nazis, their survivors will scowl at their captors, even as they are led to the gallows.
• The Determinator: One German is besieged by fires and thrown Zhdanovs from the Ukrainian partisans. Despite the overwhelming odds, the blood-and-mud covered soldiers do not give up and mount a successful counterattack on their camp, taking their leaders to be interrogated and executing the rest.
• Disproportionate Retribution: A former Ukrainian slave is put in charge of a factory by his UPA "liberators" and is hailed as a hero. However, they will execute the new overseer for any infraction, whether it be an accident, a broken machine, or even the electricity going out. Knowing that his death is certain, the overseer drinks himself to death to avoid a worse fate later on.
• Dramatic Irony: Just as the civil war is about to start, Bohdan hears rumors of major Ukrainian partisan factions rising up. From the in-game map, this is obviously true, as the player sees entire regions become demilitarized zones. In-universe, though, Bohdan considers these wildly exaggerated or untrue stories.
• Dude, Not Funny!: With her arm patched, Pavlichenko wonders what she can do in her injured state. The doctor jokingly hopes that she wasn't planning on dawdling while wasting his medical supplies. The awkward silence afterwards makes the doctor realize that the joke was poorly-timed and he apologies for it.
• Due to the Dead: Five U-SSR soldiers pay their respects to three fallen comrades by burying them and placing a cross in their memory. A year later, a boy and a girl find three sunflowers growing from the cross; they don't know the meaning of it, but they also pay their own respects by laying sweets as an offering.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In case of a U-SSR victory, one UNRA soldier is deemed innocent enough to be released after a week in jail, where he can finally return to his wife after fighting and suffering through a brutal civil war.
• Empathic Environment: After the Reichskommissariat wins the civil war, Bohdan solemnly watches an earthworm wriggle in a puddle, as he is surrounded by complete darkness and can't even light a fire without alerting a German camp.
• Enemy Civil War: From the Reichskommissariat's perspective, the UNRA and UPA are just as belligerent to each other during the Ukrainian Civil War. Though they want to liberate Ukraine and some in their ranks question why they fight each other, their visions are ultimately irreconcilable with each other, as the former seeks parliamentary democracy and the latter are Ukrainian fascists who unquestionably follow a single Vozhd.
• Even Evil Has Standards: After forced starvations are employed by the Reichskommissariat, a German commanding officer is forced to execute a soldier caught lending some rations to the Ukrainians. However, the officer doesn't enjoy the act and pities him before he gets shot.
• Face Death with Dignity: Asked if he has any final words by his UPA captors, a prisoner of war leans forward to the gun pointed at him, accepting his fate. This motion takes his captors aback and, thinking he's trying to attack them, fire at him from all sides in a sloppy execution.
• Family Honor: As he consolidates the central Ukrainian territories during the civil war, Ohlendorf tells his men that they cannot surrender, lest they bring shame to their families, even if they survive.
• Faux Affably Evil: If they win the civil war, UPA soldiers raid the Nosenko's house for any UNRA activity, where the sergeant mentions that he's a fan of Danylo's work and compliments him. Despite his civility, there is still an air of tension, as the UPA soldiers begin wrecking the Nosenkos' house and the sergeant leaves with a warning to stay out of trouble.
• Full-Circle Revolution: Subverted with Borovets' unit. After successfully ambushing an SS unit, many UNRA soldiers are eager to raid their hoarded goods, but an angered Borovets quickly puts a stop to this, pointing out that the loot rightfully belongs to the Ukrainian people and that they will not stoop to the Nazis' level of banditry.
• Glass Cannon: A Ukrainian encampment puts up a good offense, but when the Germans mount a counterattack on them, their meager defenses crumble and one soldier is surprised by how easily they are toppled.
• Good Samaritan: Bohdan visits a recently liberated city and is noticed by a middle-aged woman. Seeing him hungry and in dirty fatigues, the woman invites him to a small camp, where other refugees are given fresh clothes, food, water, and other luxuries they haven't enjoyed in years.
• Graceful Loser: Taking over a German factory, the UPA enslaves the overseer as a karmic punishment. However, the overseer doesn't really mind his fate, working hard enough that he mostly avoids the guards' wrath and internally commenting on the irony that the so-called liberators have not freed a single one of his own slaves.
• Heel Realization: Some UNRA soldiers, who were collaborators in the Reichskommissariat, are severely punished and/or executed, if the U-SSR wins the war. However, one collaborator admits that he deserves his beatings and eventual death sentence, regretting all the things he committed for the Nazis.
• Heroic Sacrifice: A U-SSR soldier dies very early in the civil war when he takes the bullet for one of his comrades. Sadly, this is no comfort for his widow.
• Hope Spot:
  • Losing almost everything to the Nazis, a Ukrainian woman seems to find a new purpose in life when she gets married and births a child. Unfortunately, this phase doesn't last, as her husband eagerly joins the U-SSR's fight against the Germans, is almost immediately killed in action, and the most funeral he gets is a few choked up words and financial compensation from a U-SSR soldier. Now a widow, the woman crosses the Despair Event Horizon and feels that she has nothing left.
  • A U-SSR unit liberates a village from the Germans and excitedly celebrates their victory. Then, German planes fly overhead and decimate the entire unit with napalm, leaving the corporal as the only survivor, who can only stare into the sky in shock.
  • With no enemies in sight, a group of UNRA soldiers let their guard down and enter a small village to liberate it. This ends up being the last mistake they ever make, as the village turns out to be a trap set by the UPA; a car bomb momentarily stuns all of the URNA soldiers and the UPA partisans mow down all of the survivors.
  • Stuck in UPA territory, a sole surviving UNRA journalist sees two UPA soldiers enter his printer's room and quickly leaves, hoping that the crowd can obscure him and casting a chance that he might escape. Unfortunately, one UPA soldier catches sight of him first and shoots him down.
• Hunger Causes Lethargy: As food rations are limited in the later stages of the Ukrainian Civil War, a German soldier is still hungry after finishing his soup and starts getting sleepy from looking at a candle on the table. He wakes himself up when he suddenly lurches on his feet and shouts "Bed!" This convinces him to start sleeping so that he can enter a state of lower metabolic activity and mitigate the sense of starvation.
• Hypocrite: After the U-SSR win the civil war, a fleeing UNRA soldier hopes that they will accept his surrender, despite internally admitting that he wouldn't have done so, if the roles were reversed.
• I Told You So: As the long-term effects of civil war kick in and food rations are becoming scarcer, Danylo snidely implies to Halyna that they shouldn't have fought against the Germans and risked starvation. For her part, Halyna doesn't walk back on her previous resistance, stating that she could die without any regrets.
• Kangaroo Court: If the Nazis defeat the U-SSR, they take Shumskyi and his men to a show trial, where they are inevitably found guilty and sentenced to execution.
• Kick the Dog: If the Ukrainian Civil War lasts long enough, Leibbrandt can employ a policy of hungerpolitik to forcibly starve entire Ukrainian populations to put down the partisan threat. Bräutigam repeatedly begs him to stop the madness by pointing out its inefficiencies, but Leibbrandt dismisses each request as a "waste of paper".
• Know When to Fold 'Em:
  • When the UPA rise up and cut contact in Ottersburg and Hegewald, the surviving members of the Heer garrison flee either to the central Ukrainian regions or to the General Government in a vain hope that they can return to Germany.
  • As German soldiers ambush her squad's position, Pavlichenko can't pull out her pistol because of her injured arm. Realizing the battle is lost, she flees further into the forest, barely getting away with her life.
  • If the Reichskommissariat wins the civil war, the town of the Nosenkos returns back to the Nazis' fold and clap for a German announcement out of blind obedience.
• Luminescent Blush: Pavlichenko recalls her tour to the United States, where the press asked her about her make-up routine on the frontlines; she blushed furiously in response to that question.
• Make an Example of Them:
  • Particularly bloodthirsty partisans will cut German settlers and string their bodies up trees to set an example to the others. In one particular case, a settler can't relax when he reaches the safety of Kiew, having seen a corpse twenty minutes away and wondering how close the partisans are to the city.
  • If the U-SSR defeats the Reichskommissariat, a trio of communist partisans kill a German officer who fled from a battle and hang his corpse in a nearby town to intimidate any surviving Nazis.
  • If the UPA defeats the U-SSR, Klyachkivsky finds Shumskyi's corpse and orders his men to coil a rope around his neck and secure it to a jeep so it can be driven around Rostow's town square, setting an example of what will happen to those who oppose him.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Pavlichenko's arm gets a hole through it, destroying her flesh and bone. However, the most she feels is a cold numbness in her forearm, only noticing the injury while scoping out of her sniper rifle, and has to think harder to remember she got it from fleeing a battle in Donetsk.
• Mood Whiplash: Antonia has a comforting dream where she's back home in Amsterdam, floating down a canal, enjoying the sun, and seeing the smiling civilians who don't have a care in the world. Then, the dream quickly shifts into a Nightmare Sequence, as the water becomes cold, the sun is overtaken by rain, and she floats farther away from Amsterdam and into the cruel North Sea. The pressure causes Antonia to wake back up in her dilapidated apartment, reminding her of the present situation and making it harder for her to fall back asleep.
• Nightmare Sequence: Walking through the streets of a communist-liberated Kyiv, Pavlichenko is taken back to her awful memories of Operation Barbarossa, hearing the screams of dying citizens, and cradling her dying husband in the midst of the chaos. She's only taken out of her trance with a massive whoop of victory.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: One U-SSR sniper is unsympathetic to her faction's communist inclinations, internally condemning how many young soldiers are carelessly thrown and sacrificed against the overwhelming German defenses for a goal she long considers dead. To her, she fights if it means saving one Ukrainian life, not out of ideology.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Invoked by Leibbrandt, if the UPA defeats the Reichskommissariat. Captured by Shukhevych, Leibbrandt desperately tries to save his own skin by remarking on their similarities, offering to negotiate Ukraine's independence with Germany, if he's spared. Unfortunately for him, his offer falls on deaf ears and Shukhevych silences him with a bullet.
• Not So Similar: If the UPA are defeated by the Reichskommissariat, Leibbrandt remarks on their similar goals in uplifting the Ukrainian race. However, Leibbrandt emphasizes the differences in their execution; while he is more calculated and refined, the UPA were rabid and too violent for their own good, which led to their downfall.
• Oh, Crap!: Pieter's face goes white if the U-SSR win the civil war and send German and Dutch farmers like him to the internment camps, where he can be "re-educated". In his mind, the only good thing about this predicament is that it's, at least, not the UPA in charge.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Taking over a village, the U-SSR steal back the food and supplies that once belonged to the Ukrainians and threatens the settlers with death, if they do not leave. Most are escorted out at gunpoint, and others resign to their fate and calmly walk out.
• Pelvic Thrust: A young UNRA soldier celebrates their potential victory by tearing down a Nazi banner and thrusting his pelvis into it.
• Pet the Dog: Some kind Wehrmacht soldiers are willing to lend their food to Ukrainian citizens. Unfortunately, if the Ukrainian Civil War lasts long enough, the Reichskommissariat will start cutting back food for the Ukrainians in retribution and any soldiers caught giving them some are punished with summary execution.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Despite their mutual hatred for each other, the three ruling men of the Reichskommissariat can put on a veneer of unity with each other, since the partisans are still a threat and they need to appear strong. Leibbrandt, Ohlendorf, and Bräutigam make a joint speech to each other, but their constant interjections show the palpable tension between them.
  • Exploited if Bräutigam reaches out to Turkey for help, where he will make an appeal based on their pragmatism, pointing out that Ukraine could fall to the communists and give them a strong base to fund the Armenian and Kurdish independence movements.
  • If the Reichskommissariat defeats the UPA, Leibbrandt orders Ohlendorf to kill their leadership as quickly as possible, not wishing to turn them into martyrs for their collaborators. He's also willing to recruit low-ranking UPA members in order to boost manpower in Melnyk's wing of the OUN.
• Prayer Is a Last Resort: Fearing that the Ukrainian Civil War is lasting too long and that the Germans will soon have the upper hand, Ohloblyn desperately prays that a miracle can strike the UNRA and give them the last push needed to win the war.
• The Purge: The UNRA's Main Intelligence Directorate exposes many low-level collaborators and fascist sympathizers who are too unsavory to be tolerated, so many of them get fired and/or imprisoned.
• Quantity Versus Quality: The UNRA's approach to the civil war is divided between Dziuba, who believes that they should rely on unskilled peasant masses to make up their armies, and Borovets, who wants a smaller, but more professional force to lead the charge.
• The Remnant: In the event of a UPA victory, Shukhevych explains that he can't celebrate too hard because there are remnant German and Tatar pockets, still offering resistance against them. However, Klychakivsky is not concerned at all, confident that they will be crushed in time.
• Rousing Speech:
  • In the outbreak of the civil war, Klyachkivsky records and broadcasts a speech to his men, denounces the German threat they oppose, and calls his soldiers to evoke the spirit of Ukraine's greatest historical figures to take back their country. He ends with a last call for unity and proclaims "Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the UPA!"
  • Subverted when Stus and Dziuba run into an argument between several UNRA officers, who fiercely debate what areas they should focus on and if relying on the collaborators is such a moral option. Dziuba turns to Stus for a rousing speech to end the conflict, but Stus ponders the situation for too long and Dziuba steps in, curtly reprimanding them for their petty arguments and pointing out that they need to remain united against the Germans.
  • After winning the civil war, Klyachkivsky proudly announces the UPA's next plan to invade Crimea with a triumphant speech. In just a few sentences about Ukraine's honor and the need for revenge, Klyachkivsky gets his supporters in a rile and they prepare to march south.
  • After the UNRA wins the civil war and elections are about to begin, a Stus supporter makes an inspirational speech to a bar, proudly denouncing the atrocities committed by Germany and calling for a European union to stand against Nazism, which earns raucous cheers from his audience.
• Rule of Symbolism: When the U-SSR win the war, Pavlichenko sees the town square of Kyiv and a bird of prey, perched on a building and with an animal in its mouth. After a brief staring contest with Lyudmila, the scowling bird leaves, symbolizing the liberation of Ukraine from the Nazis.
• Smash the Symbol:
  • Halyna personally visits a town liberated by the UNRA and feels satisfied from seeing a burned wooden swastika.
  • After liberating a town, the citizens celebrate by tearing down swastikas and other German symbols, even making a game out of who can find the most obscure ones. The apex is reached when a mob goes to the town's biggest hotel and uses some grappling hooks and spokes to tear down the giant, stone Reichsadler.
  • The U-SSR celebrates the liberation of Kyiv by dismantling the swastika flag and heaping it onto the street like a piece of trash, replacing it with their own red, blue, and yellow flag.
• Spy Speak: The U-SSR sends three cryptic messages over the radio: "P-O-T", "L-O-N-G", and "H-E-A-R-T". These messages are a call to arms to a small hut in Rostow, a house in Donetsk, and a couple in Luhansk, respectively.
• The Stool Pigeon: If the Ukrainian Civil War drags on for too long and the Reichskommissariat starts employing hungerpolitik, several Wehrmacht soldiers become so starved that they're willing to snitch on anyone still lending food to the Ukrainians, a crime punishable by death.
• This Cannot Be!: All of the Pakt is in flames after Htiler's death, but one German commander refuses to believe it. It's only after his repeated radio pleas for Germania's help that he's forced to realize the hard truth that the Reichskommissariat is on its own against the partisans.
• Too Dumb to Live: After an initial attack by the partisans, a German company mounts a counterattack on their camp, which is out in the open and easy to find. Thus, the Germans quickly surround and massacre them.
• Too Hungry to Be Polite: Searching a ransacked house, Bohdan finds a stale, dirty half-loaf of bread. He's too starved to deny the food source and he gobbles it up.
• Tranquil Fury: When the UNRA form and declare their Republic, Leibbrandt quietly seethes in his office at the catastrophic failure.
• Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Though Ohloblyn's collaborators are instrumental to the UNRA's war effort, Dziuba still cannot forgive them for betraying their country and accommodating the Nazis, worrying that they will turn on the Republic again, as soon as it's convenient. It's up to the player if they will allow no collaborators in the Ukrainians government, invite only a few, or integrate them en masse.
• Urban Ruins:
  • Pavlichenko sees the ruins left in Kharkhiv during the civil war, but she idealistically believes that the damage will be repaired in time.
  • When the U-SSR liberates Dnepropetrovsk, the city isn't in much better shape, with many city blocks riddled with bullet holes, the bridge across the Dnieper destroyed, and the fields waterlogged from a destroyed hydroelectric station. Despite this, the people excitedly welcome their liberators, to a point that Pavlichenko can't calm everyone's cheers.
• Unperson: After defeating the UPA, the U-SSR tries to destroy all memory of Bandera by capturing the surviving UPA soldiers and walking them down the roads to be pelted, burning any UPA propaganda works in the fireplace, and beheading a statue of Klyuchevsky.
• Victory by Endurance: Leibbrandt can employ the Kampfgruppe in the Reichskommissariat's eastern flank, using their anti-partisan expertise to wear them down slowly, until they give up.
• What Is This Feeling?: Long disillusioned since his failed assassination attempt, Bohdan gets a taste of hope again when he visits a liberated city and is given charity by a kind woman. Unfortunately, this did not break his cynical exterior and he maintains his belief that the Germans will return, lowering his expectations to avoid feeling disappointed when they do. Thus, he sneaks out in the middle of the night, not looking back out of fear that he might change his mind.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: While Pavlichenko laments her injured arm and stunted sniping abilities, the doctor assures her that she can still put up a good fight because of her determination and willingness to do what's right, cheering her up a bit.

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