Characters / TNO Ukraine

Main Character Index Superpowers: Großgermanisches Reich (Heydrich's Germany) | The United States of America (1964-1968 American Presidents | 1972 American Presidents) | Dai-Nippon Teikoku Major Powers: Regno d'Italia | Iberian Union | Republic of Turkey | Ordensstaat Burgund Other Countries By Region: Africa: Northern & East Africa | West Africa | Southern Africa | Post-Colonial Central Africa Asia: Mainland China & Oceania (State of Guangdong | 1964-1972 Guangdong Chief Executives | Guangdong Flavor Characters) | Southeast Asia (Republic of Indonesia) | South Asia | Middle East | Central Asia Europe: Northern & Western Europe (British Isles | French State) | Southern Europe | Eastern Europe (Reichskommissariat Ukraine | Reichskommissariat Moskowien) Americas: North America | South America (United States of Brazil | Argentine Republic | Oriental Republic of Uruguay) The Russian Anarchy: West Russia (West Russian Revolutionary Front | Komi Republic | Communist Party of Komi | Passionariyy Organization | Taboritsky's Russia) | Southern Urals | Western Siberia | Central Siberia (Siberian Black Army) | The Far East (Harbin Three) | After Midnight Miscellaneous: Antarctica | Miscellaneous Content | Non-Canon Content

Reichskommissariat Ukraine

^{Flag of the Volksdirektorat der Ukraine}

^{Flag of the Ukrainian National Republic}

Official Name: Reichskommissariat Ukraine^note Reich Commission of Ukraine, Volksdirektorat der Ukraine^note People's Directorate of Ukraine (Heerema coup), Ukrainian National Republic (independence granted by Leibbrandt)

Ruling Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

The German occupation regime of the former Soviet Ukraine. Due to its grain supply, it is commonly referred to as the breadbasket of the Reich.

See its recap page here.

---

General Tropes

• Abandoned Area: The Reichskommissariat has a number of dilapidated factories that were abandoned. Most of its workers are gone, either killed in a famine, fled west or into the swamps, or moved into a different part of the city.
• Agri World: A more down-to-Earth example. Ukraine is commonly known as the breadbasket of Europe due to the vastness of its agricultural produce and this is something that the German colonial authorities viciously exploit to feed the Reich, with the people of Ukraine only getting the remainders. The destruction of Ukraine's industries and populace during the WW2 and the Hunger Plan also furthered Ukraine's dependence on agriculture, with only minor developments in other sectors being made in the decades since. Furthermore, one of the Reichskommissariat's main mechanics revolves around the production of grain to meet German demands during the course of a consumption cycle and the associated industrial developments needed to facilitate this.
• Appeal to Force: The Reichskommissariat uses fear to try and keep many of its Ukrainian subjects in line with its leadership believing that the Slavs must be taught "their place" through force.
• Bad Boss: The Nazi officials expect their farms to meet the unreasonable grain quotas, even if it means working their slaves and fieldhands to death.
• Black Market: Despite the Reichskommissariat's best efforts, there is a surviving black market of Ukrainian literature, detailing their history before the Germans invaded.
• Cannon Fodder: In the wake of Koch's death, Leibbrandt wants to arm and strengthen the UNA collaborators to take the brunt of fighting the partisans and minimize German casualties.
• Civil War: After Adolf Hitler's death, the Ukrainian communists, liberals and nationalists rebel against the German occupiers. However, due to their irreconcilable differences, they'll simultaneously be fighting both a war of national liberation against the Germans and a civil war against each other.
• Contempt Crossfire: The Ukrainian National Committee (UNC) are hated on all sides for their collaboration with Germany, with Koch having no taste for relying on "subhumans" and the Ukrainian citizens disdaining them as cowardly sellouts.
• Crushing the Populace: One of the Reichskommissariat's primary mechanics revolves around combatting the various native partisan organizations that fight against the colonial regime through brutal measures. The Reichskommissariat can deploy various measures at the risk of increasing a regions desolation, a representation of the destruction invoked, in order to retain control of a region to prevent the partisans gaining a stronghold and damaging the agricultural and industrial output.
• Les Collaborateurs: The Ukrainian National Committee and Ukrainian National Army are two native groups who have sided with the Germans to benefit their own social positions. Initially weak, this collaborator faction becomes a sizable clique of support for Koch's three successors to try winning over to secure their rise to power.
• Developer's Foresight: Since the story is written with Ukraine returning to the German sphere (either because the RK won the civil war, pro-German collaborators successfully negotiated for re-entry into the Pakt, or Germany invaded and defeated the newly-independent Ukraine in a one-sided war) by 1967, dragging the war too long in the third scenario leads to the Germans nuking several cities, including Kyiv, much to the rest of the world's horror.
• The Dreaded: The SS are feared by the Ukrainians for their extreme retaliation for failure or dissidence. One particular factory crew complains about their unreasonable quotas, but shut up when they learn that the SS are the ones enforcing these quotas, with the supervisor going pale as a ghost and one worker fainting.
• Enemy Mine: Leibbrandt and Ohlendorf are hated rivals competing to succeed Koch, but they set their disagreements set aside when the Ukrainian Civil War breaks out and the Reichskommissariat is caught between the U-SSR in the east, and the UNRA and the UPA in the west.
• Evil Colonialist: Many of Ukraine's major cities have been partially, if not entirely, Germanised through the arrival of settlers and strong policing of said cities. Much of the land has been sold to important German industrialists and the Ostministerium (Eastern Ministry) uses the Land Management Company as a front to repurpose the Soviet state farms and agricultural machinery for the benefit of Germany. That being said, the countryside and Ukraine as a whole has been much less successfully Germanised.
• The Famine:
  • As part of the Hunger Plan, the Germans incited famines that wiped out millions of native Ukrainians to make way for German colonization efforts.
  • One of the more cruel policies that the Germans can enact in the Ukrainian Civil War is "hungerpolitik", where entire populations will slowly be starved to death so that "useless communities" will be destroyed and the partisans will run out of potential manpower. Specifically, the Four-Year Plan office decides that the Germans will receive the recommended 2100 calories a day, the Ukrainians who can help the war effort are given the daily 1500 calories needed to survive long-term, non-essential Ukrainians are given the bare 1000 calories a day, and prisoners of war are given just 500 calories.
• Final Solution: The Reichskommissariat serves as a Nazi occupation regime used to exploit and exterminate the populace of Ukraine to pave the way for German settlers. Towns are Germanized and filled with Nazi iconography, while all symbols of Ukrainian nationalism are strictly forbidden, even for the collaborators.
• Foreign Ruling Class: By nature of being a German Reichskommissariat, the Germans act as a foreign ruling class over the native Ukrainians and reap the agricultural bounties of their country. This continues to be the case when Leibbrandt establishes the collaborationist republic, where Germans continue to be treated as a superior class and given the same rights as within Germany proper.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Immediately after Koch's near-assassination, the focus tree can switch to one of the resistance movements' perspective and follow their narrative, despite the Reichskommissariat still technically being playable.
• The Gloves Come Off: If the Ukrainian Civil War lasts long enough for the Nazis to complete the first phase of its focus tree, they will lose patience and employ more extreme measures to destroy the partisans, from forced starvations to wiping out whole villages.
• The Great Repair: Even with the Reichskommissariat winning the Ukrainian Civil War, the colonial administration will have to go through an extensive reconstruction process as infrastructure, plantations and farms have been destroyed. Furthermore, the remnants of the partisans continue underground making it even harder for the Germans to restore Ukraine into a functional colony which can be exploited for Germany.
• Historical Relationship Overhaul: The Ukrainian National Committee in real life was a short-lived collaborationist proto-government formed by Ukrainian nationalists and approved by a dying Nazi Germany to take over Germany's ethnically Ukrainian military units. In TNO, the UNC also exists as a collaborationist government formed by Ukrainian nationalists, but its makeup, character, and significance are very different from real life.
• I Can Rule Alone: None of Koch's successors are fond of each other. Once their mutual enemies in the Ukrainian Civil War are finished off, the three claimants will turn on each other and fight for control of Ukraine◊.
• Inter-Service Rivalry: The Reichskommissariat becomes victim to this after winning the Ukrainian Civil War as the various factions in the government go about rebuilding Ukraine and resolving issues in their own way with declarations of often contradictory dictums. The conflict is due the power struggle between Leibbrandt, Bräutigam and Ohlendorf and their influence amongst the military, bureaucracy, collaborators and industrialists as each have conflicting visions of how to handle slavery, the economy and the Ukrainians. Once the apparatus of the Reichskommissariat itself begins to fail, then the power struggle intensifies as the possibility of cooperation ceases.
• Keystone Army: Downplayed. The stability of the Reichskommissariat is dependent on Koch. When he's knocked into a coma, the state starts falling apart and things are barely kept stable through an emergency Security Council, made up of Koch's inner circle, until the partisans are dealt with and one of the higher-ranking officials has the power to become Reichskommissar.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: With the situation in the western territories destabilizing after Koch's coma, the Reichskommissariat calls for a withdrawal in the region, leaving only the Wehrmacht garrisons and SS detachments to suppress the partisans.
• Misplaced Retribution: Whenever a partisan acts against the government, the Germans retaliate by targeting and destroying innocent villages, including the massacre of women and children. When the partisans rise up during Koch's coma, the Reichskommissariat ramps up the number of reprisals, calling them "necessary and reasonable".
• No Woman's Land: Women are frequently harassed on the streets. Kyi witnesses an innocent woman being antagonized as a "whore" and his own sister is often at risk of being attacked whenever she tries to go to the store.
• Please Select New City Name: Many Ukrainian city names were given entirely new German names under the rule of RK Ukraine ^{Full list of new city names}Vossenitz (Luhansk / Voroshylovhrad), Hughesdorf (Yuzivka / Donetsk), Reichenaustadt (Katerynoslav / Dnipropetrovsk), Eichhornburg (Yelysavethrad / Kropyvnytskyi), Konstantinstadt (Kostyantynohrad / Krasnohrad).
• Puppet State: The long term goal of Leibbrandt is to transform the Reichskommissariat into a republic run by collaborators. This republic continues to serve the economic and ideological goals of Germany and has many German officials running the various ministries of this nominally independent state.
• Radio Silence: One event during the Ukrainian Civil War details how a German commander repeatedly tries to make contact with Germania and inform them of uprisings occuring with a plea for support, only to be met with nothing but silence. In the end, all of Germany's holding in the east is in chaos and the government is on its own, not being able to rely on Germany for support.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: The Bandenbekampfung is a security policy permitting the German garrison to take extreme action against "bandits" and partisans, including the murder of suspects without due process and destruction of villages suspected to be harboring partisans. If the civil war lasts long enough, they will lean into this strategy even more, burning more villages down and choking the air with smoke.
• Slave Liberation: All contenders in the Ukrainian Civil War will abolish slavery in the aftermath of their victory (Leibbrandt thinks that only Jews and communists should be enslaved, Ohlendorf thinks that slavery is inefficient, Bräutigam and the partisans are completely against slavery in general).
• State Sec: The SS plays a significant role in the politics and suppression of partisan activity within the Reichskomissariat, with Ohlendorf's personal Kampfgruppe unit being expanded prior to the civil war and showing ability in combating the partisans. During the civil war, the Reichskommissariat has the option of mobilizing this Kampfgruppe unit and providing all the resources needed to support it despite opposition from the Wehrmacht.
• Succession Crisis: Following Koch's coma, the entire command structure of the Reichskommissariat collapses and descends into a succession race between its three most powerful men: Leibbrandt, Ohlendorf, and Bräutigam. Notably, they're evenly matched, in spite of Leibbrandt being Acting Reichskommissar in the interim.
• Suppressed History: The Germans have done a formidable job with suppressing Ukraine's history to smother native patriotism. Kyi has to actively search it out through an illegal book, The Complete History of Ukraine and Her People.
• Tactical Withdrawal: With the Reichskommissariat falling into civil war, the dispered German troops are unprepared for the volume of partisan attacks with isolated detachments being incredibly vulnerable. As such, one of the first things done by the Reichskommissariat at the start of the civil war is to regroup their forces and provide a concentrated force that can effectively fight back against the partisans.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Even when the partisans haven't fully been dealt with, Koch's inner circle are still scheming behind the scenes to take over Ukraine in the aftermath. When the civil war actually breaks out, they set these conflicts aside for the time being before they resume in the aftermath. The dispute is so predictable that some Security Council members wager that the first reconstruction meeting will devolve into petty arguing and they win the bet.
• War Refugees: With the outbreak of the Ukrainian Civil War, many German settlers flee smaller settlements to larger German strongholds to avoid retribution killings on behalf of the partisans. One event details how a family survives in a shelter from an attack on Shepetivka before making a run to Kyiv though the forests with the intention of avoiding the atrocities frequently seen on the way.
• Vast Bureaucracy: Many of the Reichskommissariats administrative positions are spread between Ukraine and Germany itself. Once conflict erupts between the two and contact is lost, the Reichskommissariat will suddenly have no connection with parts of its bureaucracy leaving the positions effectively vacant. This forces the Reichskommissariat to appoit loyalists still in Ukraine to these vacant positions to effectively operate them until stability is restored and contact with Germany can be established.
• We ARE Struggling Together:
  • The Security Council is the only thing keeping the Reichskommissariat together during the Ukrainian Civil War, but the constant bickering often hinders their ability to take decisive action. Some members go as far as to wager money if a meeting is going to produce any tangible results.
  • Reconstruction after the civil war is delayed due to bickering in the Security Council and the power struggle to become Reichskommissar, to a point that some soldiers are left without orders and can blame one of Koch's successors for the mess.
• We Have Reserves: One strategy in the civil war is to employ spare divisions from other divisions, sending these ill-suited men to the frontlines to make up manpower. Leibbrandt likes the idea, but Ohlendorf hates it, wanting to address morale and training rather than manpower.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Reichskommissariat is willing to kill children in retaliation for partisan action. They've done it so many times that leaders like Shumskyi are barely fazed by it now.

Reichskommissar for the Ukraine

Erich Koch

Role: Gauleiter and Oberpräsident of Eastern Prussia, Reichskommissar for the Ukraine^note Head of State

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}This is what Erich Koch has been left with. This is what he deserves.

At his peak of authority, Erich Koch was a thug upon a throne, brutal even by the standards of the Third Reich. His colonial policy was an endless cycle of exploitation and repression, designed to beat the Ukrainian people into submission. Under his watch, the Hunger Plan left the native population starving in fields of amber, and his quotas reduced them to slavery. In his mind, he had forged the very picture of Lebensraum: a blood diamond in Hitler's crown.

It could not last, of course. In the wake of the West Russian War, the Reichskommissariat was left with far more problems than Koch could comprehend. Above him, an army of administrators demanded more and more, hoping to prop up the Reich's ailing economy with further blood from its breadbasket. Below him, a crowd of natives screamed, demanding freedom from the abyss he had created. For the first time, Erich Koch was faced with problems which could not be solved with whips and hammers. The Reichskommissar was finally lost.

Rather than attempting major changes, the Reichskommissar has let the colony stagnate beneath him, even as terror rises and profits slow. Deep down, Erich Koch may be aware of some solution, but the man lacks the energy to change Ukraine's fate. In the name of profit, the Reichskommissar ground his colony into sand - now, he watches it blow away.

---

• Asshole Victim:
  • All of his plans to bring Ukraine into submission have failed and left him depressed with his current situation, but even his own bio points out that he deserves it for all the brutal crimes he's committed under the Nazi banner.
  • Leibbrandt is a Nazi and a terrible human being, but Koch is even worse than him. Thus, when Leibbrandt is confirmed his successor and Koch is still in a coma, there isn't much sympathy when Leibbrandt visits him in the hospital, mocks his catatonic form, brags about staffing Ukrainians in his former regime, and takes pleasure that Koch's strong disdain for the collaborators will have no place in the new Reichskommissariat.
  • If he becomes the Reichskommissar, Bräutigam treats Koch even worse, visiting his comatose body so that he can whisper "This is it for you, this is what you deserve" and tell the doctor to turn off the lights so they can invest the power elsewhere. A cruel remark coming from another (if less evil) Nazi, but still deserved for the rabid Koch.
• Ax-Crazy: He imagines himself ripping out the throats of every Ukrainian or liberal who would dare oppose him, paying no heed to the oceans of blood he's already spilled.
• Can Only Move the Eyes: When Leibbrandt takes over and visits his paralyzed predecessor, Koch's gaze seems to twist into a grimace when he hears about Ukrainians being staffed per Leibbrandt's vision, showing that he is conscious enough to hear his legacy being torn asunder.
• Convenient Coma: Early on, Koch gets caught in a car bombing, which doesn't kill him, but puts him in a coma. This conveniently destabilizes Ukraine before the German Civil War and leaves a Security Council to collectively govern in his place, with George Leibbrandt becoming acting Reichskommissar.
• Evil Colonialist: Soon after becoming Reichskommissar of Ukraine, Koch quickly became renowned for his brutality, even by the standards of the Nazi regime. He enacted a relentless campaign of Germanisation into the fifties until it was interrupted by the West Russian War and the collapse of the Reichsmark.
• Irony: If Leibbrandt is made the new Reichskommissar, he makes sure that the still-comatose Koch is being taken care of by a Ukrainian nurse. When Leibbrandt visits, he comments on the irony that Koch is now at the mercy of the "lesser race".
• Mean Boss: Not only is he a Nazi, but he's also plain rude to his subordinates, whom he hates and thinks that they are all useless morons beneath his time. Most of his actions, prior to his coma, are about him demeaning and rejecting their plans, namely Leibbrandt's idea to set up rural cooperatives, Bräutigam's call for a lighter hand, or Heerema's mechanization programs in the Dnieper. He even confronts and antagonizes Ohlendorf, simply out of a prideful belief that he's taking too much credit for Generalplan Ost.
• Only Sane Man: Inverted. Koch thinks he's the only sane one in his government, believing that his other ministers are "degenerate liberals" who are obstructing the vision of National Socialism. However, it's actually Koch who's the most deluded of them all and his subordinates stand a better chance of stabilizing the Reichskommissariat without his input.
• Politically Incorrect Villain:
  • It comes with being a Nazi, but Koch is extremely racist against people like Jews and Ukrainians, even compared to other Nazis. He can barely stand the idea of employing Ukrainian collaborators, not entertaining its pragmatic notions so he can satiate his own bigotry.
  • Koch internally demeans Heerema's Dutch heritage, thinking about replacing his last name with guttural noises as a mockery of the Dutch language.
  • He derides the "effeminates" in the SS as a weakness, indicating that he's also a misogynist.
• Put on a Bus: Six months into the game, Koch is nearly killed by a car bomb and sent into a coma, removing him for the majority of Ukraine's early game.
• Reluctant Ruler: Koch cares far more about his job as Gauleiter of East Prussia than as Reichskommissar of Ukraine. Though he prefers to spend his time in East Prussia while remotely directing orders to his underlings in Ukraine, he's been forced to stay in Ukraine personally to handle the aftermath of the West Russian War.
• Sanity Slippage: Koch was already an evil Nazi before he came to Ukraine, but he's just gotten worse by 1962. In the opening Ukraine event, Koch reflects on how far he's fallen, calling himself a fool for believing he could sculpt Ukraine into an "Aryan paradise" and wishing he had been even more brutal back then.
• Stealing the Credit: Koch sees himself as the sole architect of Generalplan Ost in Ukraine. Despite Ohlendorf's own substantial role in the horrific plan, Koch is offended that he dare take credit for anything and he scolds him out of little more than a wounded ego.
• Stupid Evil: Koch is perhaps the most incompetent Reichskommissar in the Pakt, even more so than Kasche, who can at least keep up a facade of peace in his territory, unlike the former. Literally all his successors are more competent and less oppressive than him, even the evil megacorporations or the ultranationalist butchers, and the worst case scenario for Ukraine is him waking up and no clear successor has been chosen.
• When He Smiles: Stuck in miserable Ukraine, Koch smiles for the time in years when he's allowed to leave for East Prussia and take a vacation for a few weeks.

Georg Leibbrandt

Role: Deputy to the Reichskommissar for the Ukraine^note Head of Government (Koch cabinet), Acting Reichskommissar for the Ukraine^note Head of State (Koch succession), Reichskommissar for the Ukraine^note Head of State (Power struggle victory)

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: Rosenbergite Tendency^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography (Deputy to the Reichskommissar for the Ukraine) ^{Click to Show}Georg Leibbrandt is Ukraine's student and its teacher, a man who has studied the nation for half a century and has returned with a clarity few feel in its darkest hour. In his notes, his dream is laid bare, a Reichskommissariat which is guided by scientific rigor over militaristic brutishness, where the foolish Hunger Plan is finally laid to rest. For now, however, it is mere paper, while Ukraine burns around him.

The deputy Reichskommissar is not a powerless man, but his reforms require an authority beyond his means. He may be a savior to the Collaborators and exiled bureaucrats, but to the Wehrmacht he is a weak civilian and to the hardliners he is a laughing stock. For now, Leibbrandt and his followers can only quietly work while Ukraine crashes, to cushion the landing - or reap from the chaos that follows.

In-Game Biography (Acting Reichskommissar for the Ukraine) ^{Click to Show}In his years as deputy, Georg Leibbrandt had always dreamed of a moment like this. To see Koch killed by his own hubris, to see every folly of the old regime laid bare, the concept of such a dramatic collapse had come as a spiteful fantasy to the deputy. Yet his dreams always ended with his domain as stable and functional, a product of his scientific reforms. They never ended like this.

Shoved into the twisted throne of Erich Koch, Leibbrandt never realized the level of mismanagement at every level of the Reichskommissariat. Yes, the deputy had seen the Ukrainians as natural allies, but the scale of their insubordination outmatched even his most dire scenarios. Where he imagined himself the sole reformer of Koch's broken system, he now must share power with two fellow "visionaries", who shoot down every one of his proposals. Even now, he hears talks in the halls of the hopped-up deputy who will be swept away as soon as the war is over. Insubordination, it seems, has outlasted even the Reichskommissariat itself.

There is no time for reform. There is no place for change. As Leibbrandt looks around his dying colony, he can only think one thought, twenty-three years. More than two decades of badly formulated plans, ill-conceived rhetoric, and petty infighting have left Ukraine in this moment. Woe to the man who is left to pick up the pieces.

In-Game Biography (Reichskommissar for the Ukraine) ^{Click to Show}How long did Georg Leibbrandt languish? How long did he let the pages of his plans yellow and crumble, left in their notebooks while Herr Koch was allowed to rampage unchecked? How many loyal Rosenbergites died driftless, believing a better system could never come to pass?

Now unquestioningly in power, Leibbrandt still cannot help but think of these questions. The Reichskommissar has been left with a nation of rubble, but Ukraine should have been a nation of peace and dignity, its noble, simple citizens already uplifted by the gracious German state. Instead, Leibbrandt now must prove his worth to the world, in the midst of the worst of conditions.

As his plans emerge from dusty binders into allied hands, all can tell just how grand the Reichskommisar's vision is. Leibbrandt wants a transition to an independent Ukrainian state, yet a state perfectly designed at the onset to preserve a slavish German loyalty. To Leibbrandt, it is a victory for rational governance. The Ukrainian people are not so certain.

Leibbrandt has written a script for his nation, one in which he is the hero to a vast and needy people, one in which Ukraine is freed and transformed by his powerful dictums. He has already found his actors, his crew, and his stage. So long as Ukraine can be trusted to follow, Leibbrandt's legacy is already secured.

---

• Affluent Ascetic: His manor is relatively humble compared to his colleagues, but it's still a beautiful spot sitting on the northern shores of the Black Sea and stands as a symbol of the Bismarckian standard of bureaucracy.
• Asshole Victim: If the UPA defeats the Reichskommissariat, Shukhevych personally executes Leibbrandt among the rubble, one of his less sympathetic victims, since he was a Nazi.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: With Koch gone during the Ukrainian Civil War, Leibbrandt takes control of the RK apparatus and finally gets his chance to act out on his reforms. Unfortunately, it turns out to be more complicated than he imagined, as corruption and insubordination are far more widespread within the government than Leibbrandt anticipated and his own allies shoot down any proposed reform. His own bio implies that he's come to regret ever taking power in the first place.
• Big Fancy House: Downplayed. Leibbrandt's vacation home situated near the Black Sea is described as lacking the decadent excess of his fellow bureaucrats but is otherwise an impressive manor that requires several servants to maintain.
• Can't Take Criticism: While he thinks he wants honesty from those under him, he's actually very thin-skinned and can't stand hearing honest critiques directed at himself.
• Condescending Compassion: Leibbrandt isn't as horribly racist to the Ukrainians as Koch or Ohlendorf, but he still condescendingly sees them as a people in need of "guidance" and that they are psychologically inclined to need leadership.
• Cult of Personality: As Acting Reichskommissar, Leibbrandt quickly builds a culd surrounding himself, who applaud his every word in the Security Council.
  Leibbrandt directs, and a nation listens.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Once the Reichskommissariat is converted into a semi-independent Puppet State, Leibbrandt seemingly steps down into an advisory role to Kozhevnikov. Even so, Leibbrandt still directs everything from Kiew, only in a more subtle and indirect way.
• Fair-Weather Friend: For a so-called friend of Melnyk, Leibbrandt is hardly sympathetic to the man as he lies on his deathbed. While he thinks about their similarities, Leibbrandt differentiates himself as having the will to triumph and leaves Melnyk behind to attend work elsewhere.
• Fighting for a Homeland: Played with. Leibbrandt was born and raised on the Black Sea coast and considers Ukraine to be his homeland. In his view, National Socialism should have "saved" Ukraine but those like Erich Koch forced it into squalor. Once Leibbrandt takes power, he gets a chance to turn his country towards his ambitious vision of a nominally independent Nazi Ukraine that is still subordinate to Germany.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Leibbrandt's reformist mindset has won him few friends within the Wehrmacht, the SS, and Nazi hardliners, who regard him as a weakling or a laughingstock. When Koch goes comatose from a car bombing, many of his subordinates, including Ohlendorf and Bräutigam, form a "Security Council" just to prevent him from being named Reichskommissar.
• The Gloves Come Off: As the Ukrainian Civil War rages and his authority is being challenged, Leibbrandt can stop holding back and take stronger action to assert his authority. At this point, he's done humoring the interests of Bräutigam and Ohlendorf, refusing to be compromised by the other party men and suffer a similarly destroyed career as Rosenberg.
• Hypocrite: Leibbrandt knows that the RK government is corrupt and he hates hearing lies and yes-men stating otherwise, but he can't stand honest criticisms against himself.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: When the UPA defeats the RK and Leibbrandt is brought before Shukhevych, he attempts to convince his captor that he's still useful, but Shukhevych has none of it and simply puts a bullet through Leibbrandt's temple:
  You know, we have a lot in common. Granted, I would have gone about independence differently but there are many in Germany like me. If you people keep me alive, I could help negotiate-
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Leibbrandt is all for German colonization and the subjugation of Ukraine, but he has some twisted ideas of empowering the collaborators and rolling back on Koch's most oppressive methods. It's not much, but it's a step above Koch, Ohlendorf and Heerema, who have even less regard for the Ukrainian people.
• Nostalgia Filter: Leibbrandt sometimes recollects his past and unconsciously engineers some memories to make it seem more happy compared to his post in Ukraine.
• "Not So Different" Remark: After the RK defeats the UPA, Leibbrandt writes in his journal that they shared his goal of achieving Ukraine's independence and that their struggles were very similar, but the UPA was too rash, like a rabid dog, and had to be put down. While the high-ranking leadership are too dangerous to be kept alive, the rank and life can be spared and induced in the rival Melnykite faction.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • To everyone's surprise, the normally rational Leibbrandt tries to stabilize the situation after Koch's removal with an emotional plea that the government stay united to combat the common partisan threat. Fortunately for him, it works and everyone in the Security Council rallies behind him for the time being.
  • He and Bräutigam rarely get along, so it's a troubling sign when the two set aside their differences after the partisans rise up in civil war.
• Pet the Dog:
  • When a German officer resists intimidation from the SS and arms the UNA against the partisans, Leibbrandt smiles in approval and thinks about giving the man a promotion in gratitude.
  • After becoming Ukraine's official Reichskommissar, Leibbrandt earnestly congratulates Kozhevnikov on becoming the UNC's new Chairman, affirming his confidence that he will be the perfect man for the job.
• Pragmatic Villainy: He wants to reform the Reichskommissariat to place greater emphasis on scientific progress than militarism and reverse the disastrous effects of the Hunger Plan, but only to turn Ukraine into an efficient colony of Germany.
• Propaganda Machine: Leibbrandt runs an extensive propaganda machine dedicated to managing the loyalty of the collaborators and civilians through radio or education.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Koch purposely assigns Leibbrandt to handle agricultural matters so that he can't spend time in Kiew and wield some power to threaten the Reichskommissar.
• Resign in Protest:
  • Subverted. Leibbrandt considers turning in a letter of resignation in protest to Koch rejecting his plans and running Ukraine into the ground. However, he ends up tossing the idea out of a twisted sense of honor and duty to National Socialism.
  • However, if Ohlendorf is confirmed to be the next Reichskommissar, Leibbrandt will resign from his post as a last ditch move to avoid the disgrace.
• Shot at Dawn: After the UNRA wins the civil war, almost everyone, barring Ohloblyn, unquestionably agrees that Leibbrandt should be sentenced to death by firing squad.
• The Spock: Leibbrandt builds his arguments with data, science, and rationality, attracting a clique of bureaucrats who also want to maximize Ukraine's exploitation and aren't attracted to emotional appeals.
• Unaccustomed as I Am to Public Speaking...: He considers himself more of a speechwriter than a public speaker, yet he's really good at delivering speeches in the Security Council.
• Villainous Friendship:
  • Leibbrandt has an almost-paternal admiration for Kozhevnikov, remarking that he's the perfect man to lead the UNC.
  • Alexander Sevriuk is another personal friend of his, being a top UNC collaborator. After being confirmed Koch's successor, Leibbrandt personally meets Sevriuk to assure him that things will get better for men like him.
• Visionary Villain: Leibbrandt sees himself as the visionary who can reform Koch's broken domain into a stable colony to serve Germany's interests, while granting limited autonomy to the local Ukrainians who show the "moral and intellectual aptitude to rulership".
• White Man's Burden: Unlike Koch or Ohlendorf, Leibbrandt sees Ukraine as more than just a land to settle and exploit. He believes that the Ukrainians can be "uplifted" under German guidance and join the Nazis against the Russian nation. Under his rule, Leibbrandt expands Ukrainian collaborationism and gives them a little more autonomy, but otherwise makes sure that they are still subject to the German Reich.
• Who's Laughing Now?: When the Security Council confirms him as Reichskommissar, Leibbrandt reflects on the years he's spent as deputy and bowed to men much more powerful than him. Now sitting in his office, Leibbrandt smugly thinks how the tables have turned and that Ukraine is his personal domain to realize his unorthodox ambitions.
• You Are in Command Now: After Erich Koch falls into a coma following the Kiew bombing, he takes over as the Acting Reichskommissar of Ukraine. Unfortunately for him, this doesn't mean a lot of people see him as the legitimate authority and Germany's inability to recognize him as the Reichskommissar in time contributes to Ukraine's descent into civil war.

Otto Ohlendorf

Role: Supreme SS and Police Leader in Reichskommissariat Ukraine^note Security Minister (Koch cabinet), Reichskommissar for the Ukraine^note Head of State (Power struggle victory)

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Otto Ohlendorf is everything that the SS seeks to create in a man. He is independent, a free-thinker in his every manner. He is dutiful, a bureaucrat who chooses to live his life by the mechanical spirit of Bismarck. He is violently willing to enforce Nazism, and is utterly uninterested in the lives and minds of those he deems lesser.

Until now, the SS have hated him for it. Ohlendorf took the logical extension of Nazi ideals seriously, and viewed the state of the German economy as a tragedy for the Aryan Volk. He wrote down what he saw - a decaying, increasingly unequal society that was failing to use its violent dominance to provide for the everyman. He wrote of a decaying party with an honest pessimism, and the SS saw that opinion as an annoyance. They have punished him ever since.

Now, Ohlendorf has a chance to reverse that slight. Reichskommissar may still not be his ideal role, but if Otto Ohlendorf can economically transform this backwater, he may have a chance of showing Germania just how proper his methods could transform the entire Reich. In his years of study, his years of economic work, his years of violence, he has built a wealth of expertise and connections across every facet of his government. Now the time comes to wield them.

In-Game Biography (Supreme SS and Police Leader in Reichskommissariat Ukraine) ^{Click to Show}If you wish to understand Ohlendorf, one must know just how much he is willing to do to see his project implemented. All NSDAP functionaries learn quickly to internalize an acceptance of violence, but Ohlendorf executed that violence; in his time heading the Einsatzgruppe D, he saw some hundred thousand "subhumans" shot and shoved into unmarked graves. He has seen the calculus of nazi bureaucracy made real, and he did not blink.

This is not the goal of his career - his dream work would be heading an economic ministry in Germania. Yet despite his obvious credentials, time and time again his brutal honesty and stubborn attitude have gotten him branded unhelpful and sent to the East.

Perhaps he was always too honest, too comfortable with presenting the realities of National Socialism, to make headway in Germania. But those realities don't truly give him pause. They only give him a chance to make things more efficient, more streamlined - and here in Ukraine, he may find an opportunity to make those changes.

---

• Do Wrong, Right: Ohlendorf decries the incompetence of the Reichskommissariat, pointing out the rising levels of crime, banditry, and partisan activity. He argues that only he has the will to set things right in Ukraine, which means cracking down on treason and weakness, turning the country into a loyal vassal to the Reich, and making it a proper home to the Germans who supposedly deserve the land.
• Evil Colonialist: As commander of the Einstazgruppe D, Ohlendorf executed roughly 100,000 "subhumans" to pave the way for German colonization in Eastern Europe. He serves the Koch regime by putting down partisan cells and permitting the bureaucracy to extract Ukraine of its agricultural worth. When he takes over, Ohlendorf writes an article, arguing that the model of colonial exploitation and German settlement should be expanded to all of eastern Europe, replacing the indigenous people with a new "Volksdeutsche" middle class of Germans.
• The Gloves Come Off: Blaming Leibbrandt and Bräutigam for leaving the Reichskommissariat vulnerable to civil war, Ohlendorf can decide that he, alone, can save the colony. Thus, Ohlendorf stops holding back, building a borderline treasonous faction for himself to take over the country after the war and giving up on compromising with the other two men.
• Internal Reformist: Downplayed. Despite his otherwise racist beliefs, Ohlendorf is rather liberal in terms of economic policy for a Nazi, being the only Reichskommissariat path that advocates free market reforms.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Ohlendorf is annoyed to hear Koch blame him for the festering partisan problem, but he goes along with it and agrees long enough until he can leave, knowing that he can't dispute his boss.
• Moral Myopia: He thinks it's unethical for four Kriminalpolizei officers to be shot and left to bleed on the streets, even though he's commanding a monstrous Einsatzkommando dedicated to the oppression and murder of Ukrainian people.
• Odd Friendship: Even though Ohlendorf opposes Speer and his reforms, he actually has a close friendship with Ludwig Erhard, a member of Speer's Gang of Four.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ohlendorf thinks that fear is a weakness, so his expression of it before the Ukrainian Civil War highlights how dire the situation could be for the Nazis.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Ohlendorf sees four wounded Kriminalpolizei from a UPA attack and feels disgusted by their suffering, imagining that it wouldn't have happened if he had jurisdiction.
  • If Leibbrandt agrees with his proposal to employ the anti-partisan Kampfgruppe in the Ukrainian Civil War, Ohlendorf will give him a short, grateful nod. Given how much they hate each other, that's a significant gesture from him.
• Politically Incorrect Villain:
  • He is the most openly racist of Koch's successors, calling for the suppression of "Judeo-Bolshevism" and the Ukrainian people.
  • He's also racist against Polish people, considering them detestable in every way, including the collaborators.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Ohlendorf agrees with Leibbrandt and Bräutigam that slavery should be abolished, but only for pragmatic reasons (slavery is bad for the economy).
  • Ohlendorf is reluctant to accept Erwin Weinmann's plan and storm the UNC with his SS soldiers, fearing the fallout and retaliation from Leibbrandt for treason. He only pushes through at Weinmann's insistence.
• The Purge: Of the SS leaders in Eastern Europe, Ohlendorf did not participate in Himmler's attempted coup against Germany, and purged the more hardline Ukrainian SS members in its aftermath.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: His free-market ideas and brutal honesty made him disliked in Germania and sentenced him to Ukraine.
• Repressive, but Efficient: Of the three potential Reichskommissars, Ohlendorf is the most likely to develop the best GDP for Ukraine.
• Shot at Dawn: If the UNRA win the civil war, Ohlendorf is sentenced to death by firing squad.
• The Starscream: When Leibbrandt becomes Acting Reichskommissar and the Ukrainian Civil War is won, Ohlendorf quickly moves to depose his nominal boss. Notably, of Koch's three potential successors, Ohlendorf engages in the most blatantly illegal tactics to get an edge over his rivals, notably approving Weinmann's blockade of the UNC headquarters and potentially denying any UNC testimonies about this treason, if Ohlendorf controls the collaborators.
• Stealing the Credit: When a number of communist bases around Charkow are destroyed, Ohlendorf is ecstatic at the prospect of destroying the URA, which he intends to take all the credit for.
• The Stoic: Ohlendorf maintains a cold, stoic "Prussian demeanor", even in the face of insurgents in the civil war, which terrifies his subordinates.
• Superior Successor: In private, Ohlendorf calls Koch a barely-above-average Nazi who was out of his league trying to colonize Ukraine. He thinks he was too brutish and simple-minded to handle the intricacies needed for the task, hence why he considers himself better suited for the task. While Koch is still comatose, Ohlendorf only visits him out of obligation and curiosity on his status before dismissing him as weak and leaving him to his fate.
• Villainous Friendship: Having previously worked at numerous universities, Ohlendorf is still in touch with Professor Jesson. If Ohlendorf is made the Reichskommissar, Ohlendorf invites Jesson to help him prepare Ukraine for German settlement, commenting that it will be a pleasure to work alongside each other.
• Visionary Villain: For how infamous his atrocities are, it's a bit surprising to know that Ohlendorf has much higher ambitions than the mere slaughter of groups that the Nazis hate. His foremost goal is to dictate Ukraine's economic policy and turn the country into perfect grounds for German settlement.
• Workaholic: Ohlendorf is constantly working to put down the Ukrainian resistance movements, having little time for vacations, despite being so close to Gotenland.

Hans-Otto Bräutigam

Role: Representative of the Foreign Office^note Foreign Minister (Koch cabinet), Reichskommissar for the Ukraine^note Head of State (Power struggle victory)

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: Reformed National Socialism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}While Bräutigam never doubted himself for a second, the rise of such a committed reformist to the position of Reichskommissar astounds even him.

When the power of his uncle's pull gifted him a job as Representative of the Foreign Office in Ukraine, Hans-Otto Bräutigam first felt lost in such a foreign land. He could only despair at what seemed like a dead end, but in this eastern colony, he found his calling as ineptitude became abundant. His calls for extreme reforms to the status quo attracted those who looked to his ideals as a cure to the chaos.

A network of contacts, an unwavering belief in reform and luck crafted the magic formula to turn him into the Reichskommissar of Ukraine. Political freedoms and support for the long-suffering natives are in the spotlight as Bräutigam's ideals can come true. But his road is not an easy one. His faction is but a lone lighthouse battered by waves of rigid orthodox attitudes. Even his allies wonder if he is going too far with his proposals.

But if Bräutigam were to succeed in his reforms, hope may soon rule the day in all of Ukraine once more...

In-Game Biography (Representative of the Foreign Office) ^{Click to Show}Hans-Otto Bräutigam is a young man with big dreams and a lot to prove. Despite receiving his position after just a bit of nepotism from his uncle, Hans-Otto has not become complacent like other young men given cushy jobs by their family in the elite. Behind a facade of adhering to National Socialist ideology, Bräutigam dreams of a new, free Germany in a new, free Europe.

He wonders if his dream, moving on from National Socialist tyranny and building a future of freedom, is even possible. He wonders if it is even possible to make things right. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. But that won't stop Bräutigam from trying to do the right thing and make Ukraine a better place, even if he has to sacrifice his greater ambitions.

---

• The Charmer: He's got a quick tongue that allows him to hammer negotiations with even the most stubborn of administrators. This allows him to bring some aid to his faction before the civil war and earns him the respect of his colleagues for being productive.
• Enemy Compassion: Subverted if the Reichskommissariat defeats the UNRA. Despite how much he pities the death sentences handed to the UNRA's leadership, Bräutigam must keep silent or else be deemed too sympathetic to them by his rivals. The one look that breaks his disconnect is Ohloblyn's pleading look to intervene, but Bräutigam stays out of it.
• Enemy Mine: If he controls the industrialists, Bräutigam sends a phone call to Heerema, convincing the latter to condemn Leibbrandt and Ohlendorf for their criminal actions and getting the Security Council to consider alternative candidates like himself.
• Everyone Has Standards: Though serving the Nazi regime, Bräutigam is horrified by the disproportionate reprisals and massacres committed against Ukrainian citizens accused of harboring partisans, calling for a lighter hand towards Germany's "brothers-in-arms".
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Bräutigam is classified in-game as a Reformed National Socialist much like his (ostensible) fellow reformist Albert Speer, even though his ambitions go much farther than Speer's.
• The Gloves Come Off: Bräutigam is initially open to negotiating with Leibbrandt and Ohlendorf. However, the chaos of the Ukrainian Civil War and the stubbornness of the two men can break Bräutigam's patience, who decides that the time for talk is over and that he'll do everything he can to take over the Reichskommissariat for himself.
• Internal Reformist: Bräutigam is publicly aligned with Albert Speer's reformist faction, and genuinely wants to free the Ukrainian people from Nazism. How free and democratic his Ukraine can be is another story.
• Nepotism: He became Ukraine's envoy to Germania with help from his uncle, who was previously the Deputy Reichskommissar before taking a seat in the Reichstag in an alliance with Oberländer. However, this didn't stop Bräutigam from working diligently anyway. Koch absolutely hates him for his reformist tendencies and would've fired him long ago, if it weren't for his family connections.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Bräutigam rarely engages with the press because he doesn't think it's necessary, but he changes his mind and gives a good interview with a Ukrainian newspaper loyal to the German regime. It's a telling sign of imminent conflict in Ukraine and that the Germans need to scrounge up as much popular support as possible.
  • The civil war becomes a clearly serious issue, once Bräutigam and Leibbrandt set aside their typical bickering to counter the common enemy.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Bräutigam's reforms appeal to the Nazis pragmatism, arguing that a lighter hand against the Slaves is the only feasible means of stopping the Ukrainian partisans, more so than Leibbrandt's belief that they can be conditioned into obedience or Ohlendorf's willingness to bluntly oppress them.
• The Quiet One: Bräutigam isn't as prone to get into petty arguments, like Leibbrandt or Ohlendorf. Most of the time, Bräutigam silently watches the two fight, only occasionally intervening to propose something that could impede both sides.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If Ohlendorf wins the race to succession, Bräutigam will disappear from Ukraine. Ohlendorf suspects that he's run off back to his uncle, having no other options at this point.
• Shot at Dawn: In case of a UNRA victory, Ohloblyn initially argues for a life prison sentence for Bräutigam, but Horlis intervenes and has some sentenced to execution by firing squad, arguing that he's too important to let live.
• Token Good Teammate: Bräutigam is one of the few Nazis in Ukraine who has moral compunctions about the ideology and will adopt a more reformist approach if he governs Ukraine.
• Workaholic: Bräutigam is comparatively hard working bureaucrat while his older colleagues often show up late, chat with secretaries and take long lunches. Bräutigam on the other hand works for hours on end believing he has a lot to prove and an opportunity to make a difference for the people within Ukraine.

Leibbrandt/Ohlendorf Cabinet Members

Emil Meynen

Role: Head of Government (Victorious Leibbrandt cabinet)

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: Rosenbergite Tendency^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography (Head of Government) ^{Click to Show}Emil Meynen, Leibbrandt's "scientific advisor", has claimed that he values science over all else. Tune in to any station and you will hear his soft-spoken speeches, explaining the intellect and vision behind Leibbrandt's policies. He sounds reasonable. Even sane.

His maps of the German people came with demands for foreign annexation. His maps of Austria helped lead the Wehrmacht through its blitz. His maps of the Soviet Union gave Einsatzgruppen a birds-eye view of the Final Solution. He is a beast of this machine, like any other ally of Leibbrandt. Meynen merely knows how to best play his part.

---

• Evil Genius: Meynen is a scientifically oriented man, lecturing on the radio about the intellect of Leibbrandt's platform.
• Minor Major Character: For an obscure cabinet member, Meynen was instrumental in some of Germany's most infamous crimes and aggressive foreign policies, including the Anschluß and the organization of the Eisantzgruppen in the Soviet Union.
• Mouth of Sauron: One of his primary jobs is to promote the legitimacy and pseudoscientific basis of Leibbrandt's policies. The most terrifying part is that he can communicate his points in a "reasonable" manner that convinces a good number of people that what they're doing is justified.

Peter Kozhevnikov

^{Minister Portrait}

Role: Foreign Minister (Victorious Leibbrandt cabinet), Head of State (Leibbrandt succession), Chairman of the Ukrainian National Council (Potentially)

Party: Ukrainian National Council

Ideology: Naturalised National Socialism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Peter Kozhevnikov has been made President of Ukraine, its paramount leader. According to official sources, he has played a vast role in freeing Ukraine. This is not strictly false. The best performances contain a hint of truth, after all.

Yet Kozhevnikov hardly liberated his nation on a bayonet's edge. He liberated it with a German stamp of approval, with handshakes and smiles, with Leibbrandt standing beside him. Now, he gets to rant on whatever fascistic subject he likes, while radios blare it across every city in Ukraine.

Such a story is common in the Ukrainian National Republic. Many Ukrainians have had precipitous rises, their stories blared across every channel as a sign of the times. Freed from bondage, Ukrainians can now enter school, even join upper management. It can feel as if they can do anything.

In truth, many things still lie behind the curtains, away from Ukrainian hands. The economy still rests with German industrialists, the military with Wehrmacht troops. Even Leibbrandt remains in Kiew, an "advisor" in name only. Yet there is a sense of hope in the air. For the first time in decades, the Ukrainian people see a way out. It may not feel like a true home, but it just might suffice.

In-Game Biography (Head of Government) ^{Click to Show}In all of the bluster and blare of the Reichskommissariat's propaganda machine, one might hear Peter Kozhevnikov's name a hundred times and yet never know a thing about him. Though he has been present in Ukrainian politics since the Russian Civil War, the man has a scant history, only made notable by his dedication to a decidedly western mode of fascism. Yet some twenty years ago, he fell into the sphere of Leibbrandt, and firmly remained there ever since. It seems that has made all the difference.

Now, Kozhevnikov has been promoted to Chairman of the Ukrainian National Council, a title once as irrelevant as any other, but increasingly important in Leibbrandt's Ukraine. Though Kozhevnikov is hardly a man of conviction or talent, he is a man of loyalty. For Leibbrandt, loyalty is all a Ukrainian needs.

---

• The Dragon: Kozhevnikov's loyalty earns him a promotion to Chairman of the Ukrainian National Council, an increasingly important position in Leibbrandt's new Ukraine.
• Historical Relationship Overhaul: Kozhevnikov in OTL was known for being the founder of the Union of Ukrainian Fascists, an early Ukrainian nationalist organization inspired by Italian fascism and German Nazism (to the point where their party symbol included a Ukrainian trident and a Nazi swastika), he was also hated for his pro-German views, leading him to be kicked out of the OUN after accusations that he was a German agent. In TNO, he's portrayed as Leibbrandt's protégé, owing to Leibbrandt looking for someone who is entirely loyal to him and having very little in the way of other options and Kozhevnikov's immense hunger for power.
• Meet the New Boss: When Melnyk passes away, Leibbrandt replaces his position in the UNC with another Ukrainian friend of his, Kozhevnikov. Any potential rivals in the organization are explicitly told by Leibbrandt to stand down, for the sake of "national unity" and "mourning".
• Metaphorically True: When RK Ukraine is transformed into the Ukrainian National Republic, official sources claim that Kozhevnikov played a key role in freeing Ukraine, which is technically true because he did help Leibbrandt abolish the old Reichskommissariat system. However, this "liberation" was done with a stamp of approval from Germania and all key positions in Ukraine are held by Germans, with only token efforts made to improve the Ukrainians' standing. The worst part is that many Ukrainians accept this narrative because they're prospering far better than under Koch's rule, so they have little motivation to question it.
• Mysterious Past: Kozhevnikov has a scant history, being present in Ukrainian politics since the Russian Civil War and becoming a dedicated fascist, but not much else.
• Puppet King: As President of the Ukrainian National Republic, Kozhevnikov is subject to the German conglomerates and Wehrmacht, which continue to run freely within Ukraine, and Leibbrandt, who continues running things as an advisor in name only.
• The Quisling: After Georg Leibbrandt consolidates his hold over Ukraine, he promotes his underling Kozhevnikov to Chairman of the Ukrainian National Council. When he subsequently reforms the RK into a puppet Ukrainian National Republic, Kozhevnikov is chosen to be its President.
• This Is My Name on Foreign: He combines the German version of his given name with the Russian version of his surname. In real life, his name is normally written as Petro Yakovych Kozhevnykiv (Ukrainian: Петро Якович Кожевників).
• Undying Loyalty: Kozhevnikov is a man of loyalty, which is the only thing Leibbrandt really needs from Ukrainians.
• Villainous Friendship: Kozhevnikov is personally friends with Leibbrandt. When the two take over the Reichskommissariat, Leibbrandt places a hand on Kozhevnikov's shoulder in affirmation and Kozhevnikov reciprocates with a smile.
• You Are a Credit to Your Race: Leibbrandt sees Kozhevnikov as the model Ukrainian, calling him a man intelligent enough to rival German's greatest intellectuals.

Gustav Schlotterer

Role: Economy Minister (Victorious Leibbrandt cabinet), Head of Government (Ohlendorf cabinet)

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

In-Game Biography (Economy Minister) ^{Click to Show}Leibbrandt's plans represent an enormous threat to the stability of capital. Plantations are soon to go under scrutiny and regulation on a scale unheard of in the Reich. It is Gustav Schlotterer's goal to make sure that the Ukrainian economy - and the systems which it is built on - survive such hardships.

A deputy to Walther Funk and an intelligent economist in his own right, Schlotterer's plans are not the bombastic measures of Leibbrandt - they are the antidote. Schlotterer uses softer measures to force Ukraine towards the Reich, pushing the economy towards agrarian export over all else.

Make no mistake, this is to Leibbrandt's liking. Certainly, the Reich can restore its reputation in Ukraine - but above all, the Reichskommissariat must remain functional.

In-Game Biography (Head of Government) ^{Click to Show}Dr. Gustav Schlotterer earned his title with a paper on Marx's concept of the primitive accumulation of capital, an irony for a man whose life's work can be defined by the topic. A member of the NSDAP since it was unbanned and a senior civil servant, his lifetime has been mired in economics, from a journalist in the papers to the planner of a pan-European trade policy.

It is why his colleague Otto Ohlendorf has called upon him, knowing his expertise as the chief engineer of Germany's economic machinery within its Eastern territories, making him his de facto number two. Schlotterer understands his role well - the economy will take precedence in this colony from now on - everything else is but a secondary matter.

---

• Boring, but Practical: Compared to the unorthodox plans of Leibbrandt, Schlotterer's economic policies are mundane and focused on keeping Ukraine's agrarian exports chained to the Reich. This is precisely what Leibbrandt wants, as the Reichskommissariat needs to be kept stable first and foremost.
• The Dragon: Ohlendorf trusts Schlotterer's expertise in pan-European trade policy and the east European economic system, making him his second-in-command.
• The Unfettered: When hired by Ohlendorf, Schlotterer's most prioritized objective is economic growth. Anything else is secondary.

Peter Kleist

Role: Security Minister (Victorious Leibbrandt cabinet), Foreign Minister (Ohlendorf cabinet)

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: Rosenbergite Tendency^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography (Security Minister) ^{Click to Show}Perhaps no one but Leibbrandt truly sees his vision for what it truly is. Meynen hesitantly follows it as part of his training. Schlotterer sees it as a vessel from which his models can be inserted. Kozhevnikov clambers up it for whatever power he can get. Only Peter Kleist, the hardened bureaucrat, comes close.

A success story from Rosenberg's Ostministerium, Kleist first grew to prominence organizing Lithuanian collaborator armies. Now, he does just the same in Ukraine - but on scales his younger self could not even imagine. Kleist and Leibbrandt envision an army of collaborators on a scale comparable to the German garrison, organized under one command. The Wehrmacht is unsupportive - but for Rosenbergites, it is their dream made reality.

In-Game Biography (Foreign Minister) ^{Click to Show}A learned polyglot, Dr. Peter Kleist knows English, French, Swedish, Polish, and Russian but has never forgotten the most important one of them all - German. First earning his doctorate in law, he would join the NSDAP and SS in the early thirties, soon becoming a vital part of Ribbentrop's staff for Poland and later the wider Eastern European sphere.

Post-war, he would find himself in a variety of diplomatic posts before Bräutigam's unceremonious recall required Kleist to return East. He now serves as the Foreign Office representative for Ohlendorf's administration, a position he will dutifully serve in without the devious and politically motivated scheming of the reformist that preceded him..

---

• Les Collaborateurs: Kleist's first rise to prominence was organizing Lithuanian collaborator armies for the Reich.
• Omniglot: Kleist is fluent in English, French, Swedish, Polish and Russian, in addition to his native German.
• Psycho Supporter: Of Leibbrandt's ministers, Kleist comes the closest to understanding and fully supporting his long-term plans. Together, they envision a colony, patrolled by an army of Ukrainian collaborators strong enough to fight side-by-side with the Wehrmacht.
• Redeeming Replacement: Inverted. Ohlendorf replaces Bräutigam as his foreign minister with Kleist, who is a far more committed Nazi than his predecessor.

Richard Wagner

Role: Head of the Main Department of Food and Agriculture^note Economy Minister (Koch and Ohlendorf cabinet)

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}In 1944, Richard Wagner, a agrarian administrator in occupied Belgium, was fired by the military on grounds of sexual harassment. It could have - should have - destroyed his career. But Wagner was an SS man. His organization found him new work, and by 1950 the scandal was largely a footnote.

The ordeal taught him a crucial fact - the NSDAP has the answer, and there's no use in whining. Therefore, even as Wagner has racked up promotions and accomplishments, he has never deeply involved himself in party disputes. His main opinions remain firmly rooted in the agrarian sector, which he operates in Ukraine - it was him who has largely completed decollectivization, against Darre's wishes. As for the rest, so long as Germanization continues, Wagner is more than happy remaining in the shadows.

---

• The Quiet One: Wagner rarely talks about matters beyond agriculture; so long as the process of Germanization continues, he'll keep to himself and avoid party disputes.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Wagner was originally an agrarian administrator in Belgium and was fired by the military for sexual harassment, but he found work again in Ukraine because of his connections to the SS and now serves as Head of the Main Department of Food and Agriculture in Ukraine.

Erwin Weinmann

Role: Security Minister (Ohlendorf cabinet)

Party: Arbeitsbereich Osten der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note Working Area East of the National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

In-Game Biography (Security Minister) ^{Click to Show}Floating into the NSDAP under the wing of his older brother, Dr. Erwin Weinmann is the product of Nazi student activism in Tübingen, a zealot of the SD - a cog in Germany's Eastern exploitation regime. His young age was no factor in the swift accumulation of appointments and posts that would fill any Nazi careerist with envy.

Weinmann's first assignment in Ukraine saw him head Sonderkommando 4a, previously responsible for the Babi Yar massacres. He returned as the Commanding Officer of Si Po & SD in Ukraine, a role that has made him a crucial part of Ohlendorf's cabinet. But as the main voice of SS orthodoxy in Ukraine, his hardline tendency contradicts Ohlendorf's own, making him dysfunctional if necessary for future ambitions.

---

• Arc Villain: If the player is controlling Leibbrandt or Bräutigam, Weinmann becomes an early antagonist during the reconstruction period, where he aids Ohlendorf's bid as Reichskommissar. Shortly after Melnyk's passing, Weinmann organizes the SS to blockade the UNC headquarters, starting a long crisis that challenges the legitimacy of Leibbrandt's authority and requires each of Kochs' successors to pull out their supporters to maneuver the situation to their favor.
• Principles Zealot: Weinmann is absolutely committed to the ideals of the SS, which puts him at odds with Ohlendorf's flexibility.
• Sociopathic Soldier: Weinmann directly committed the Babi Yar massacres while he commanded Sonderkommando 4a.
• The Starscream: Weinmann pushes the SS to take over the UNC headquarters, delegitimizing Leibbrandt on fabricated grounds of failing his duties and giving an opportunity for his boss, Ohlendorf, to take power. Leibbrandt, in turn, accuses Weinmann of being the real traitor, starting a massive dispute that will dictate who will take over the Reichskommissariat.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He and Ohlendorf don't get along, due to their ideological differences. However, they both know that they need each other to keep the Reichskommissariat running.
• Young and in Charge: Despite his young age, he swiftly climbed the ranks in Germany's east European territories, enough to make more veteran careerists jealous.

Bräutigam Cabinet Members

Pavlo Shandruk

Role: Security Minister (Bräutigam cabinet), Chairman of the Ukrainian National Council (Potentially)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Natsional'na Armiya - Shandrukistiv^note Ukrainian National Army - Shandrukite

Ideology: Military Junta^note Despotism

---

• The Cynic: Shandruk is in his 70's and he's long given up any pretensions of resisting the Nazis. The most he can do now is work within the Reichskommissariat and survive the next day.
• Defeat Means Friendship: If the UNRA wins the civil war, Shandruk switches over to their side and becomes an ally to Ohloblyn.
• Enemy Mine:
  • Shandruk isn't close friends with Brautigäm, but he turns the UNC-S to his side if either he or Leibbrandt control the collaborators, fearing that Acting Reichskommissar is a greater threat and would have them purged.
  • If Ohlendorf has majority control in the collaborators, Shandruk reluctantly offers the support of his faction in the UNC. He doesn't like working with the SS, but considers it a necessary move against Leibbrandt's own attempt to control the UNC by nominating Kozhevnikov.
• Fair-Weather Friend: Shandruk is an old colleague of Melnyk, having fought together in Sich and collaborated with Germany. However, when Shandruk is among the first to learn of Melnyk's passing, he pays a brief thought to their time together and quickly moves on to keep his death under wraps, thinking how Melnyk's demise can be used for political purposes.
• Internal Reformist: Taking over the UNC in Bräutigam's path, Shandruk vows to reform the UNC so that it's more patriotic about its own country, getting rid of the Horse-Wessel anthem and uniting all anti-communist Ukrainians out of a shared sense of nationalism.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: If a Leibbrandt-controlled military police contains the SS blockade of the UNC headquarters, Shandruk will feel distaste at the Wehrmacht dictating his organization's fate, but he really doesn't want to get involved, so he stays out of it.
• Rebel Leader: Shandruk survives the civil war if the UPA wins, but he'll rally an insurgency against them, leading the southern group of the Ukrainian People's Revolutionary Army.
• Small Name, Big Ego: As a major figure in the UNC, Shandruk thinks he has more authority than he really has, enough to cow the SS, if they ever tried interfering in their business. However, if Leibbrandt doesn't have the police on his side, Shandruk is proven wrong when the SS storm the UNC headquarters; when he tries getting the occupiers to stand down, it takes a single warning shot to put him in his place.
• Wicked Cultured: Among the memorabilia in his office, Shandruk also has poems and prose from various Ukrainian authors, like Shevchenko and Nosenko.

Other Important People

Pieter Schelte Heerema

^{Post-Civil War}

Role: President of NOC, Head of State

Ideology: National Socialism

---

• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Heerema always fights for the side that best suits him on the occasion. During World War II, he signed up with the SS when it was clear that the Netherlands would fall under German influence and later distanced himself from Himmler after his failed coup, solely to keep his prestigious position in Ukraine.
• Drink-Based Characterization: Heerema drinks wine in an early event and grimaces when it tastes sour, showcasing his upper-class background and vanity.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: He tries to meet with the acting Reichskommissar and propose a plan to fund the colony's burgeoning industry, but when Leibbrandt ignores the meeting and sends a low-ranking bureaucrat in his place, Heerema is so insulted by the disrespect that he leaves in a huff.
• Enemy Mine: Heerema accepts a partnership with Bräutigam to win the settlers to the latter's side and publish a letter denouncing Leibbrandt and Ohlendorf, calling out their criminal actions and demanding their resignation. Even though they are largely incompatible with each other, both see common ground in opposing the other two horses in the race to succeed Koch. If Leibbrandt or Ohlendorf are more influential among the industrialists, Heerema is quick to drop his truce with Bräutigam.
• A God Am I: Out of pure arrogance, he considers himself a "generous god" and a prophet with a litany of success stories.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side!: Heerema initially forms an alliance with Bräutigam, but if Leibbrandt or Ohlendorf wield more influence in the industrialists, Heerema will switch sides to them and leave his former partner out to dry.
• Industrialized Evil: The NOC focuses on industrializing Ukraine into a machine where millions of Ukrainians are enslaved and forced to extract every ounce of wealth from their own country.
• It's All About Me: Heerema has a massive ego that, when the NOC isn't given a grant, he interprets this as a personal insult by one of Koch's successors. Regardless, he gets payback by spreading dirt on the person he thinks is snubbing him, making it harder for them to take over Ukraine.
• My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting: Heerema calls his home country a "decaying homeland" and thinks that there is more potential to be found from working in Ukraine.
• No-Respect Guy: Koch especially despises Heerema out of personal annoyance with his demeanor, while Acting Reichskommissar Leibbrandt doesn't bother to listen to his proposal of subsidizing Ukraine's industries and sends a no-name bureaucrat in his place. The latter part really sets Heerema off and he walks out of the building as soon as he realizes that Leibbrandt will not be attending.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Heerema is purely out for his own self-interest and he's willing to betray anyone if it means gaining more power or wealth for himself. One of the most foreboding parts about Bräutigam's path is that Heerema has a chance to buy out every company left in Ukraine, exploiting Bräutigam's desperation for investments so that NOC can become a megacorporation rivaling that of Volksawgen or Krupp.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Although he is corrupt and oppressive, he is focused firstmost on making a profit, so he'll pursue more moderate options if it benefits him. Notably, he ends the concentration camp system because it's less sustainable than slavery.
• The Quisling: He's a Dutchman who joined the Waffen-SS in 1940 and has continued collaborating with the Germans at the game's start.
• Too Desperate to Be Picky: Since Leibbrandt and Ohlendorf won't ally with him, Heerema resorts to a truce with Bräutigam. It's obvious Heerema would rather not work with him, but he's so desperate to keep his power that he'll forgo this standard.
• Villains Out Shopping: Heerema is introduced sitting on his porch and thinking about buying an estate in Gotenland to enjoy the warm sea air.

Andriy Melnyk

Role: Chairman of the Ukrainian National Council

Party: Ukrayins'kyy Natsional'nyy Komitet - Mel'nykovtsi^note Ukrainian National Committee - Melnykite

Ideology: Fascism

---

• Alas, Poor Villain: Melnyk was a Ukrainian fascist and collaborator who sold out his country to the Nazis, but him rotting away in his deathbed and with almost no one to mourn him is still a pitiful sight.
• Authority in Name Only: Andriy Melnyk is head of the collaborationist Ukrainian National Committee and Ukrainian National Army, but they have little to no power because Koch hates the idea of tolerating Ukrainians that much. However, this can be downplayed during the partisan breakout, as the Reichskommissariat can arm the UNA and boost their manpower, much to the disapproval of the SS.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved: Though hated by most of the relevant players in the Reichskommissariat, Melnyk did have some people who cared about him, namely his wife and few genuine friends.
• Hated by All: Melnyk is hated as a traitorous collaborator and his German overlords see him as a tool to keep the Ukrainians under their control, only concerned that he's becoming more useless from age, yet keeping him around just to ensure that nobody makes a power move in the UNC. When he lies on his deathbed, Ohlendorf doesn't bother to visit him, Leibbrandt unsympathetically leaves him to attend work elsewhere, and Bräutigam's visits him solely in the hopes that Melnyk can give his blessing to succeed Koch. Not even the higher-ups in the UNC are saddened by his death, with Shandruk more focused on who should succeed him.
• Plot-Triggering Death: His passing creates a power vacuum in the UNC, culminating in the collaborators supporting one of Koch's three successors and the SS barricading the UNC headquarters. The outcome of the crisis will depend on which demographics are controlled by each of Koch's successors.
• The Quisling: Melnyk is the leader of the Ukrainian National Committee, representing those Ukrainians who have remained slavishly loyal to the Reich that oppresses their people, even after numerous other collaborators have defected to partisan groups.
• Sleepyhead: Being so old at this point, Melnyk is prone to falling asleep at random, which gives another reason for why no one respects him.
• Yes-Man: Ever since bowing to the Germans, Melnyk has been forced to downplay his style of Ukrainian fascism and become little more than a rubber stamp to whatever Leibbrandt wants.

Republic of Ukraine

Official Name: Republic of Ukraine

Ruling Party: Ukrayins'ka narodno-demokratychna partiya^note Ukrainian People's Democratic Party

Ideology: Provisional Government^note Paternalism

The republic declared by the Ukrainian National Revolutionary Army, a big tent Ukrainian nationalist resistance group founded by collaborator-turned-resistance leader Taras Bulba-Borovets.

See its recap page here.

---

General Tropes

• Les Collaborateurs: One major faction in the UNRA, called collaborators, consists of Ukrainian right-wingers who see Nazi Germany as a natural ally against Judaeo-Bolshevism, but have issues with how the RK is being run right now. Though they fight for the Republic in the civil war, after victory they'll immediately advocate for the resumption of collaboration with the Reich.
• Defector from Decadence: The collaborators are one faction composing the UNRA. They include policemen, mayors, and minor officials who denounce the corrupt structure of the Reichskommissariat, but nonetheless envision a fascist Ukraine, something that the partisans and populists are wary of.
• Enemy Mine:
  • The UNRA is a broad coalition of various factions, including the nationalist partisans, the left-wing populists, and the fascist-adjacent collaborators. All of them have different visions for Ukraine, but so long as their mutual enemies in the RK and other resistance cells survive, they stand united. Once the prospect of winning the civil war looms, these divisions become more obvious.
  • The UNRA can potentially form a truce with the U-SSR to focus the first stages of the civil war on the Nazis and the UPA, who they hate even more. Both sides know that the truce will expire as soon as their mutual foes are dealt with, but they're willing to overlook this for the time being.
• Everyone Has Standards: The UNRA reluctantly admits collaborators into their ranks to gain a pragmatic advantage, but they do not tolerate collaborators committing excessive war crimes or sympathizing with fascism. During the Ukrainian Civil War, the Main Intelligence Directorate investigates many of these traitors and has them punished.
• Good Versus Good: Two of the three UNRA factions include the partisans and the populists. Both factions seek an independent Ukraine free from Germany and fascism, but the partisans are diehard UNRA members who are fiercely anti-communist, while the populists maintain sympathies towards communism and the Ukrainian SSR. These conflicting ideologies make them incompatible with each other, despite their otherwise benevolent intentions.
• Hero-Worshipper: The Ukrainian National Revolutionary Army celebrate and revere Mykhailo Hrushevsky, head of the Central Rada and leader of the 1917 Ukrainian Revolution. Even decades later, the partisans still fight for his dream of an independent Ukraine.
• Historical Relationship Overhaul:
  • The Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance was a Ukrainian political party that existed in the Second Polish Republic and initially supported the Soviet Union, until news of their atrocities against Ukrainian populations was spread and the UNDO formed a truce with the Polish government against them. Following the Soviet Union's invasion of eastern Poland and annexation of western Ukraine, the UNDO's leadership was arrested and the party was disbanded. In this timeline, the organization survived the invasion of Poland and turned into a minor collaborative force within Galicia for the Soviet Union, buying them time to form their own partisan movement and rebel during Operation Barbarossa.
  • The OTL UNRA, during its short period of existence, was more or less Bulba-Borovets' own warlord army, complete with moral stains of war crimes and collaborationism. In TNOTL however, the UNRA seems to have evolved into a much larger (and much more moral) big tent nationalist resistance group, gathering up all non-communist and non-Banderite Ukrainian resistance forces. It is telling that none of the UNRA's heads of states are actually affiliated with UNRA in OTL.
• Hope Spot: The UNRA's victory in the civil war marks the establishment of a liberal democratic government free from colonial rule. Unfortunately, while the people of Ukraine are hopeful for the future, the reality of Nazi Germany reasserting its authority over eastern Europe is palpably felt and it means that Ukraine is destined to return to the German sphere, either peacefully or violently.
• Keystone Army: At least during the Ukrainian Civil War, the unity of the UNRA is dependent on Horlis' survival. If the Republic is defeated by the UPA, he will be summarily executed to fracture his supporters.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Following the assassination attempt on Koch, Horlis and Dziuba meet to discuss the crisis facing the RK, considering it the perfect opportunity to start a revolution and they start mobilizing their forces.
• The Mole: Some Ukrainian collaborators in the Reichskommissariat are UNRA double agents, who collect intel on the Germans and pass it on through secret channels.
• Necessarily Evil: The UNRA accepts Ukrainian collaborators, despite the atrocities they committed for the Nazis. It may not be righteous, but the UNRA needs as many men as they can.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Many within the Ukrainian National Revolutionary Army don't understand why the Ukrainian Insurgent Army is even an enemy, since both dream of Ukraine's freedom and self-determination. Even those who recognise the difference between the comparatively peaceful UNRA and the bloodthirsty UPA still find the war questionable, but the only way to answer this is a quick end to the fratricidal war. For their part, the UPA doesn't reciprocate this and regards the UNRA as a bunch of degenerate liberals and Polish puppets.
• Patriotic Fervor: The Culturists are extremely proud of their country's history. Prior to the civil war, they smuggle in books to slave camps so that their countrymen can never forget their roots and can take pride in who they are, once they are liberated.
• Puppet State: While the Culturalists can negotiate with the Reich to rejoin the Pakt and avoid a bloody invasion, the best they can get is a very bad deal that will leave Ukraine with very little actual sovereignty (to the point that even though the Republic of Ukraine remains as a tag on the map, their playable content still ends anyway).
• Occupiers Out of Our Country: The Republic is a partisan group seeking to secure Ukraine as an independent Western-style democracy.
• La Résistance: The Polissian Guard are one of several resistance movements in Ukraine and want to introduce a liberal-democratic republic that has long been denied to Ukraine by the Tsar, the communists, and the Nazis.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: On the surface, the Republic seems like the best chance for the partisans to liberate Ukraine, as the U-SSR is more focused on preparing for a guerrilla war than setting up a civilian government, while the UPA are just plain terrorists. However, if the Republic emerges on top, Germany will inevitably recover from their own civil war and come back to Ukraine's doorstep, demanding their subjugation and return to the Unity-Pakt. With the odds heavily stacked against the Republic, the only realistic outcomes are for the Ukrainians to accept or face a hopeless invasion they don't stand a chance against, since the Reich would never tolerate a fully independent country in their immediate sphere of influence, especially one that they conquered and ruled only a few years ago.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • The liberal partisan elements within the UNRA are strongly anti-fascist and anti-communist and are willing to cooperate with the Polish Home Army. These positions put them at odds with leftists, collaborators and nationalists within the UNRA and is a balancing act that will be tough to manage.
  • Many within the UNRA are not friendly to the former collaborators who have joined their ranks, considering them cowards who would leave the rest of them to dry, if the tides were to suddenly change to the Germans' favor.
• We ARE Struggling Together: The UNRA's great numbers and training would make them a serious threat to the Reichskommissariat, but their own infighting with the UPA divides their attention and buys some time for the Germans to regroup and prepare for the imminent civil war.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: The founders of the provisional government have many lofty ideals written into their constitution, proclaiming its commitment to democracy, anti-imperialism, anti-corruption, checks-and-balances, and a ban on military men or dictators assuming power. Sadly, it is impossible for the Republic to meet these ideals; Stus and Dziuba legitimately adhere to its democratic structure, but they have no good long-term plans against a retaliatory German invasion. Stus is also threatened by Borovets' anti-democratic measures against those he deems fascist sympathizers, leaving him as a threat, even if the Germans somehow weren't a problem. This leaves only the pragmatic Ohloblyn, who is a corrupt President willing to use dirty tactics to hold his office.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea: The idea of an independent, liberal democratic Ukraine has persisted for decades. The Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance (UNDO), a political party that formed the basis of the UNRA, existed all the way back to 1925 and the partisans' rallying call is "it is 1917 once more" in reference to the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic.

Provisional Government

Yuriy Horlis

^{Post-war portrait}

Role: President^note Head of State

Party: Ukrayins'ka narodno-demokratychna partiya^note Ukrainian People's Democratic Party

Ideology: Provisional Government^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography (Ukrainian Civil War) ^{Click to Show}What is culture? What is it that mends and defines so many nations, and what is it that Germany has obsessed over since the beginning of the NSDAP's rule over Germany, then Europe?

If you were to ask Yuriy Yuryovych Horlis, the leader of the Ukrainian branch of the Polissian Guard, however, he would tell you of what makes up the culture of Ukraine; the language, the freedom, and the determination for a Ukrainian state. Horlis has fought for these values since before the days of the Galicians' first forays into western Ukraine, spreading the ideals which Yuriy had always believed in, since his days as a liaison for the first Ukrainian People's Republic. With the help of his ethnic and ideological allies within Galicia, however, it will be far from the last. So long as the Ukrainian culture survives, then Ukraine will always survive.

For now, however, Horlis will fight tooth and nail for his people and will unite Ukraine, once and for all. From Galicia to Yuzivka, Ukraine will be made whole, and it will finally come to know the democracy it was robbed of so long ago, by the Russians and communists of years past.

Now, however, is not the time to reflect on the past. Now is the time to look towards the future. A future of an eternal Ukrainian culture, a future of a legitimate democracy for Ukraine, and a future where Ukrainians can walk tall without a German or Russian pointing a gun at their back. With Galicia and Ukraine at his back, it is not a question of when Ukraine will become free, but how Yuriy Horlis will do it.

Or so he prays.

---

• Beneath the Mask:
  • It's implied that Horlis himself doubts his chances of winning the Ukrainian Civil War, despite his very ambitious plans of bringing democracy back to Ukraine.
  • As the infighting gets worse with a prolonged Ukrainian Civil War, Horlis secretly starts becoming more frustrated and worried that he can't keep the UNRA together. When Ohloblyn and Dziuba dispute which region they should rebuild first, Horlis seriously considers praying for the war to end soon.
• Cincinnatus: Horlis sees himself as a wartime leader, not a peacetime one, and steps down to hold elections after the Republic is victorious in the civil war.
• The Cynic: Downplayed. Though he rebels against the RK, even Horlis is doubtful of Stus' staunchly anti-German agenda, believing that he won't stand a chance against them, even if they managed to get Poland on their side.
• The Determinator: For as long as he lives, Horlis will never give up his struggle to free Ukraine from the Nazis.
• Face Death with Dignity:
  • Though broken by the Reichskommissariat winning the civil war, Horlis remains dignified and calm as he's led to the gallows.
  • If defeated by the UPA, Horlis will be executed and dumped into an unmarked grave. However, Horlis goes out with some dignity intact, staring down his executioner and knowing that his death will turn him into a martyr.
• Hanging Around: Horlis is publicly hanged, if the Reichskommissariat defeats the UNRA.
• Heel–Face Turn: Horlis used to support the German invasion of the Soviet Union, believing the Nazis to be 'liberators', not knowing the true extent of their evil until he became a partisan much later.
• Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Horlis did not anticipate Bohdan's attempted assassination of Koch, but he quickly improvises the crisis as an opportunity to accelerate the UNRA's armament campaigns and prepare a full-blown insurrection.
• Manly Facial Hair: His mustache is styled as a handlebar, and he's a benevolent resistance fighter who fights to free Ukraine from the Nazis.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Almost everyone notices Horlis' unusual, uplifted confidence after Koch's coma, signifying that the UNRA has a once-in-lifetime opportunity to tear down the Reichskommissariat.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Horlis is a Cincinnatus who has no delusions of holding onto his power and, if he defeats the U-SSR, is understanding enough to let Shumskyi and the survivors move to a neutral country rather than be killed.
• Worthy Opponent: Despite their ideological differences, Horlis is respected by Shumskyi as another man willing to risk everything in the fight against the Nazis. If the UNRA defeats the U-SSR, Shumskyi feels disappointed, but ultimately glad that he lost to Horlis above the Nazis or the UPA.
• Single Tear: After the UNRA's victory, Horlis sheds a tear of relief, feeling hope for the first time in decades. But this moment is fleeting, with Horlis preparing to step down and let the Ukrainians decide their own future in the upcoming elections.

Presidents

Vasyl Stus

Role: Head of the Department of People's Education^note Foreign Minister (Horlis cabinet), President^note Head of State (Election)

Party: Ukrayinskyi narodno-demokratychnyi al'yans^note Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance

Ideology: Popular Front^note Progressivism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Poet, soldier, writer, and resistance member, Vasyl Stus is a great many things. More than most, however, he believes in a free Ukraine. A free Ukraine that does not come from betraying the core ideals of freedom, or the base aspects of common sense. A free Ukraine to be proud of, and that is capable of remaining free. With a broad anti-German coalition behind him, and the Reich in crisis, it seems that if Ukraine has even the slightest hope of achieving this, it is now.

As a young man, Stus caught wind of the Ukrainian National Revolutionary Army in Galicia and has since fought for their cause, though he has since picked up a civilian position. With the war of liberation won, and the election firmly in hand, many are anxious about the future. Some fear Ukraine will run itself into the ground. Others believe it is throwing away its opportunity for freedom. Many within the ranks of Stus' own political alliance believe Ukraine cannot uphold the values of liberty at home and remain free from the Germans at the same time.

Stus fears they might be right.

In-Game Biography (Head of the Department of People's Education) ^{Click to Show}Vasyl Stus cannot recall a life free from the jackboot. Born in 1938, his earliest memories were of the German invasion, and his life has been shadowed by its effects ever since. Headstrong and loathing his circumstances, his early rebellions were tempered by more careful voices, who inducted Stus into a safer form of resistance: underground literature, where his anger was honed and filed down into scathing poetry.

Fifteen years of pouring his anger out onto paper has prepared him for a new position in the UNRA: their chief PR man, who motivates soldiers and civilians alike to dream of and fight for a free Ukraine. He is the young face of militant anti-fascism within the UNRA, articulating a vision for victory and inspiring the will to fight for it.

---

• Beneath the Mask: Stus acts confident that Ukraine can ward off the Germans, but even he privately recognizes the hopelessness of the situation. During a military meeting, Stus sweats about the shortage of allies Ukraine can recruit and rushes out of the room, outwardly affirming that his generals can find a solution, yet inwardly holding back tears.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: As part of his United Struggle platform, Stus offers amnesty to either former communist or Banderite partisans (including Roman Shukhevych himself), who might have once fought against the Republic, but are now willing to join his broad anti-German front.
• Enemy Mine:
  • Stus has a somewhat fragile alliance with Borovets, since the latter and his Polissian Guard aren't as supportive of democracy and could overthrow it. However, they face much greater threats from the other political parties and the Germans, so they cooperate for the time being. Once United Struggle is elected, the two butt heads, as Borovets wants to suppress anyone he sees as a fascist sympathizer and Stus opposes this as fracturing the popular support and anti-German coalition he's trying to build.
  • Despite being the face of the anti-communist partisans within the UNRA, Stus is willing to offer amnesty to former Ukrainian SSR partisans who also want to see Ukraine freed of Nazism and are willing to fight for the bourgeois Republic.
  • Alternatively, Stus can extend the alliance to Shukhevych and the remaining UPA soldiers, as they are considered pragmatic and "apolitical" enough to be used against Germany.
  • If Oholblyn gets elected, Stus will team-up with Dziuba, working to have the new President removed.
• Energetic and Soft-Spoken Duo: Stus is the soft-spoken counterpart to the more bombastic Taras Bulba-Borovets. The duo represent the two main parties that make up the the United Struggle coalition, the Polissian Guard and the Ukrainian Freedom Party, both of which recognize the threat that Germany provides to Ukraine and do not want to collaborate or look elsewhere.
• Heroes Gone Fishing: When he's not working, Stus likes to write poems, doing his best to capture the memory of Ukrainian life in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as recollect the life of his father.
• Hidden Depths: Stus expresses much nervousness about Ukraine's future and how he should lead it, revealing a level of insecurity beneath his passionate, firebrand persona.
• Only Sane Man: Invoked by United Struggle election campaigns, which frames him as the best option Ukraine has. As he points out, Ohloblyn is a collaborator willing to bend to the Reich and Dziuba has no plan to counter the looming German threat.
• Principles Zealot: Stus is adamant in his belief that Ukraine must be free from Germany and any other superpower would try to exploit them. Unfortunately, it's clear that this principle cannot survive in a Europe dominated by the Nazis, who will inevitably return and invade in a one-sided war to bring Ukraine back to the fold.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: In real life, Stus was a poet, journalist and Ukrainian dissident who spent 13 years in detainment before dying after a hunger strike. In TNO, he remains a poet, but also joins the Ukrainian resistance movement and is a possible president.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Stus is the most optimistic of all possible Ukrainian leaders, believing that with Germany is temporarily weakened in their own civil war, it is possible for Eastern Europe to unite in an alliance to defeat the Reich in a conventional war (in contrast to the communists, who prepare for a long-term insurgency because they hold no such illusions). However, he severely underestimates the Reich's true strength—while he can take down many Nazis and make Germany bleed, true victory is another thing entirely, and there will not be many resources left to rebuild a resistance after Ukraine's inevitable defeat. Even Horlis doubts that he can hold off the Germans.
• Young and in Charge: Stus is only 23 at game start and becomes president of Ukraine in his 20s, having to face off an imminent German invasion.

Ivan Dziuba

Role: Head of the Department of Finance and Cooperation^note Economy Minister (Horlis cabinet), President^note Head of State (Election)

Party: Ukrayins'ka revolyutsiyna robitnycho-selyans'ka partiya^note Ukrainian Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Party

Ideology: Left-Wing Nationalism^note Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}To those in the nascent Republic of Ukraine, Ivan Dziuba appears to be the ultimate countryman, a writer and thinker who has done all he can for his country. His writings have spread far and wide, following the Republican army in each town they liberate. Rather than speaking to the hardened insiders, Dziuba spoke to everyone, to all those who sought a better future for Ukraine. Rather than following the road of hatred like many nationalists, he has struck out on a socialist and anti-chauvinist nationalist program. His words have captured a nation - and seemingly, they have also created a president.

The incoming president may be inexperienced - he is young, just barely thirty years of age, and has until now been more defined by his thoughts than his administration. Yet President Dziuba knows his words, his nation, have the power to create something greater. The Ukrainian people are free - now, they must learn to be themselves.

Now, they must learn to survive.

In-Game Biography (Head of the Department of Finance and Cooperation) ^{Click to Show}Ivan Dziuba is a man of letters, a dedicated nationalist who believes in the sovereignty of the Ukrainian people. He is a staunch anti-chauvinist whose concerns for ethnic minorities has brought him into conflict with more conservative elements within the UNRA. He is a committed leftist who sees a bright future for all Ukrainians if she has the will to fight for that future.

What he is not is an economist or a manager. Nevertheless, a man of letters is needed to look after the logistics needed to support this insurrection. Though lacking in economic expertise, Dziuba is committed to the cause and has a vision for the future. Perhaps that is all Ukraine needs for now.

---

• Beneath the Mask: Though he promises a bright and hopeful future to his supporters, Dziuba has private worries that Germany will inevitably come back and, most ominously, has no good plan to keep his Republic alive. His last post-election event features Dziuba unable to sleep because he cannot think of a possible way to repel the upcoming German invasion.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Dziuba is idealistic, even naive, but he can be savvy against his political rivals, notably uncovering the atrocities committed by Ohloblyn and Borovets, and exposing either one of them to get a leg-up in the election.
• Enemy Mine: Dziuba is not happy if Ohloblyn gets elected, forming a truce with Stus and Borovets to have him removed.
• The Face: Unwilling to see Galicia and its support base fall in line to the UPA, the UNRA sends Dziuba to build some goodwill there, offering food and supplies to the villages that the UPA have plundered.
• Gentleman and a Scholar: Dziuba spent most of his life preserving Ukrainian culture and producing underground writings during the German occupation. Furthermore, his presidency focuses on the preservation of Ukrainian culture, seeing it as the most powerful weapon Ukraine has against German and Russian imperialism.
• Gone Horribly Right: His romanticization and trumpeting of Ukrainian culture translates into wide public appeal, but it occasionally backfires into racism against non-Ukrainians, with one Culturalist denying food to a starving child because the boy was Bulgarian.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: Dziuba focuses almost entirely on internal affairs and reviving the Ukrainian culture, not seeing war-torn Germany as a threat in the short term. This creates comparatively high living standards for people (second only to the communists), but leaves Ukraine woefully unprepared when Germany does come back knocking.
• Hypocrite: After Ohloblyn's election, Dziuba claps for Borovets' suggestion that they use anti-democratic means to remove the President from power. Though Ohloblyn himself cheated his way through the polls, Stus is still disturbed that Dziuba is renouncing his former support of parliamentary democracy and descending to Ohloblyn's level.
• Loved by All: Dziuba's populist platform appeals to many. One voter in particular feels respected by the choice of the Culturalists to show their faces on election posters and personify the names he had been hearing over the broadcasts.
• Team Switzerland: After being elected, Dziuba will pursue a neutral foreign policy, believing that Ukraine should only look out for its own people.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Dziuba leads the populist elements within the UNRA, which seeks to free Ukraine from all forms of foreign subjugation and appeals to rural peasantry and leftists with their idealistic mission. However, this means the matter of Germany's return becomes a secondary matter despite its importance.

Oleksander Ohloblyn

Role: Mayor of Brest, Provisional Governor of the Brest Oblast^note Head of Government (Horlis cabinet), President^note Head of State (Election)

Party: Rukh na zakhyst vid bil'shovyzmu^note Movement for Defense Against Bolshevism

Ideology: National Conservatism^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}During his time as the German-appointed mayor of Kyiv, Oleksander Ohloblyn imagined himself as inoffensive. Ohloblyn's slightest victories were proof of his even hand; his evils were forced upon him by Nazi bureaucrats. Even as his administration filled with Fascistic OUN allies, even as he sent the Jewish community to their deaths, he held to a core belief that all of this was an act of caring.

Slowly isolated by the NSDAP, Ohloblyn found an opportunity to return to prominence when he began to work with a desperate UNRA. His successes exceeded his wildest dreams: the revolution he attached himself to defeated all opposition, his allies infiltrated its leadership, and assassinations, bribery, and intimidation ensured that his crypto-Bolshevik opponents would not be elected. Now, he can continue to protect his nation through the only means he has - submission. Safe in the belief that his old ways proved true, Ohloblyn is certain that through courtesy and obedience, he can protect his people from the worst of Germany's impulses.

The bodies buried beneath Babi Yar prove otherwise.

In-Game Biography (Provisional Governor of the Brest Oblast) ^{Click to Show}The mayor of occupied Brest, upon seeing the blue and yellow proudly hoisted above him, revealed himself to be an agent for a free Ukraine. Years of covert support bought him a position of power in the insurgency, despite the misgivings of some. They danced around the subject of his tenureship as mayor of Kyiv, when he allowed the slaughter of its Jewish population. They privately wondered about his commitment to the cause.

Sadly for them, Oleksander Ohloblyn's presence in the UNRA is too useful to deny. He brings with him experienced collaborators familiar with the RK's existing political and economic structures. They proclaim themselves patriots eager to fix the Nazi's horrors and their mistakes. Yet it remains to be seen whether Ohloblyn is committed to a Ukraine that can stand on its own and defeat Germany, or one that can merely co-exist with them.

---

• Appeal to Worse Problems: Ohloblyn is far from the most attractive option of presidents, but a significant portion of his appeal is drawn from the despair of another potential invasion by Germany. One voter considers this as he gets anxious at the prospect, while nervously smoking a cigarette.
• Believing Their Own Lies: Ohloblyn deludes himself that he's the best solution to preserving as many Ukrainian lives as possible, ignorant of the people he helped massacre during his collaboration with the Nazis, most infamously at Babi Yar.
• Beneath the Mask: In private, Ohloblyn is not too confident in the UNRA's ability to depose the Nazis, especially if the Ukrainian Civil War drags on. At one point, he writes a letter to his friend, admitting his worries and desperately praying that the UNRA can make a decisive push, knowing that he will be severely punished if the Nazis win.
• Berserk Button: Dziuba's mere presence is enough for Ohloblyn to lose his temper and make all sorts of baseless accusations against his rival.
• Dirty Coward: He contributed to the Nazis' many atrocities, most infamously the Babi Yar massacre, because Ohloblyn was too scared to openly defy them.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Ohloblyn is reluctant to heed Bahaziy and Shandruk's request to free some of the collaborators imprisoned by United Struggle's militia. As Ohloblyn points out, these men were notoriously corrupt and cruel, and even he considers their release an injustice to the Ukrainian people. The only reason he goes through with it is because the other two point out that their deaths would anger Germany.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Very few in the Polissian Guard like Ohloblyn, well aware of his atrocities and unrepentant collaboration. However, his infiltration in the Reichskommissariat and the support he can bring to their side is too valuable to discard, so they tolerate his membership. After the civil war, Ohloblyn is still treated with apprehension by the other political parties; if he gets elected, they all agree to team up against him and the corrupt means that he used to win.
• Gentleman and a Scholar: Ohloblyn is a major Ukrainian historian who specializes in Cossack history, particularly that of the first Hetmanate. As such, he often echoes Ukrainian history and the decisions made to ensure the survival of Ukraine, especially in relation to his wish to bring Ukraine back into the Einheitspakt.
• Hanging Around: If the Reichskommissariat defeats the UNRA, Ohloblyn is the last of the UNRA's leadership to be hanged, despite his pleading look for Bräutigam to intervene.
• Hypocrite: Ohloblyn accuses Dziuba of being corrupt, supposedly misusing government food stocks to boost his voting numbers. This is an unfounded and completely hypocritical argument coming from a politician who exploits voter fraud, intimidation, bribery, blackmail, and assassination to get his way through the election. Not to mention Dziuba's own retort that he's just trying to feed the people and that Ohloblyn could do the same, if he really cared for their well-being.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Ohloblyn is both a Holocaust perpetrator and denier and an unsavory politician, relying on assassination, bribery, and other means of corruption to worm in his election. However, his crimes pale in comparison to the UPA and the actual Nazis, who commit even worse atrocities.
• Meet the New Boss: While not as openly horrible as the old Reichskommissariat, there is a general sinking feeling about Ohloblyn's election and plan to collaborate with Germany, with many people thinking that nothing has changed with the UNRA's victory.
• The Mole: Ohloblyn is the mayor of Brest and a member of the UNA, but he's secretly working for the UNRA. When the civil war starts, Ohloblyn drops the deception and openly defects to the UNRA, forming the basis for their starting territory.
• Necessarily Evil: This is what Ohloblyn claims to be, however, the player may see things far differently. Whereas Stus and Dziuba are anti-German and isolationist, respectively, Ohloblyn believes that collaboration is the only chance of preserving their independence. He will opt to rejoin the Pakt to prevent an unwinnable invasion. This comes at the consequence of destroying the Republic's democratic institutions and subjugating itself to the Reich once more.
• Never My Fault: He wants all the credit for any small accomplishments he made while collaborating with the Nazis, but none of the accountability from contributing to the Holocaust.
• President Evil: While he is elected no less democratically than Stus and Dziuba are, Ohloblyn is by far the most unsavoury of the Republic's potential presidents, a Holocaust enabler and denier and shameless collaborator with the Reich.
• The Quisling: He once served as mayor of Kiev after Nazi Germany invaded the USSR, and by 1962 is helping the Germans govern Brest. His plan to deal with Germany is bending the knee to them, reintegrating Ukraine back into the Pakt, albeit as an independent client state instead of a RK, while preserving the Republican political apparatus.
• Realpolitik: Ohloblyn's idea of dealing with the Reich when it inevitably comes back knocking is to push for negotiations for re-entry into the Pakt. Even though this is seen by some as collaboration, it does allow Ukraine to avoid war and keep at least some degree of sovereignty.
• Red Scare: If the full name of his party (Movement for Defense Against Bolshevism) didn't make it clear, Ohloblyn also denigrates the Bolsheviks as rats and parasites who hollowed out everything Ukrainians loved, and accuses his rivals within the Republic (itself very anti-communist) of being crypto-Bolsheviks ready to restore a red flag.
• Refuge in Audacity: After Koch's near-assassination, Ohloblyn hosts a meeting inside a Reichskommissariat meeting room in the middle of Brest. Ohloblyn figures that the chaos and riots will be enough to send the Germans in disarray, giving enough time to conduct their meeting in their own turf.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In United Struggle's route, Ohlbolyn sees a mob assemble during his speech, jeering at his collaboration with the Nazis and arming themselves with truncheons and pistols. Ohloblyn wisely takes this as his cue to leave while his men barely hold them back.
• Smarter Than You Look: Ohloblyn doesn't command much respect from his appearance alone, but he is still a savvy and unscrupulous politician.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: To solve the Movement for Defense Against Bolshevism's image problem, Ohloblyn spreads propaganda that 'corrects' his complicity in the Reich's crimes, particularly the Babi Yar massacre:
  The Babi Yar massacre? Oleksander Ohloblyn was certainly not involved in such a thing, in fact, he tried his hardest to stop it from taking place and personally saved Jews from being slaughtered in it. Actually, what records do you have that show this "pogrom" ever took place? We have have looked through RKU archives and have found nothing that supports these claims, we would kindly advise you to not put out such deception in the future unless you wish for us to pay your surviving family a visit.
• Villain Has a Point: While his rivals might disagree, Ohloblyn does correctly recognise that Germany is too strong of a foe for Ukraine, and that collaboration with the Reich is the only way for the Republic to survive, even though that means denying the Holocaust and other crimes of the Reich, some of which Ohloblyn and his own supporters were (and are still) complicit in.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Zig-Zagged. It depends on which political party is being controlled. If the player is controlling the Spivavtor party, Ohloblyn can have people blatantly assassinated during the elections and it does not significantly harm his climb up the poll. In the Culturalists' path, this reputation can be fractured if his atrocities are exposed, though some hardcore supporters don't care, even congratulating him. In United Struggles' path, Ohloblyn cannot go outside his house without being hounded by protestors every five minutes, reflecting his deep unpopularity.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Ohloblyn earnestly believes that cowing to Germany is the only way to spare Ukraine from a brutal invasion, even if this means guaranteeing his own election through bribery and blackmail.

Other Important People

Taras Bulba-Borovets

Role: Head of the Department of Military Affairs^note Security Minister

Party: Ukrayins'ka natsional'na hvardiya^note Ukrainian National Guard

Ideology: Military Junta^note Despotism

In-Game Biography (Head of the Department of Military Affairs) ^{Click to Show}When the Germans invaded, there was a young anti-Soviet militia officer that helped support their efforts against the Russians. Why, then, did he leave their service with a hundred men into the forests and re-emerge as founder of the UNRA? Perhaps it is a way he thinks he can wipe the blood from his hands, shed at Olevsk and elsewhere. Perhaps he could simply never abide any future for Ukraine in which it was subordinate.

Bulba Borovets leads the UNRA's military against the RK's forces, planning for and preparing his men to fight the German occupiers. In contrast with the idealists around him, he does not engage in questions of what comes after. Borovets is not particularly sold on the futures others have in store for the UNRA, but he puts his concerns aside for now. If he fails, Ukraine will not have any future.

---

• Les Collaborateurs: As an anti-communist, Borovets initially joined the Nazis in the fight against the USSR. However, when he realized the full extent of their depravity, Borovets renounced his former collaboration and turned into a partisan leader.
• Enemy Mine:
  • Borovets might not share Stus' ideology, but they are close allies to get United Struggle elected and prepare for war against Germany. After their election, the two's relationship becomes a lot more contentious.
  • In case of Ohloblyn's election, Borovets extends the truce to Dziuba, adding the trio's collective strength to undermine the President and have him removed.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: He used to be an OUN member and personal ally to Bandera, but Borovets was disgusted by his collaboration with the Nazis and the atrocities he committed for them. This culminated in his defection from the OUN and he swore to put both the Reichskommissariat and the OUN down. However, he's not friendly to the idea of a democratic government; if United Struggle wins the election, Borovets becomes more hostile to Stus and swears that he will do whatever it takes to save Ukraine from fascism.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Despite his defection from the OUN, Dziuba does not forgive the crimes he committed for them or the Nazis, unsure if he despises Borovets' hollow anti-fascism or Ohloblyn's open fascism more. Should his atrocities be exposed, the public turns on United Struggle, feeling the same sentiments as Dziuba.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Borovets' most shameful act as a collaborator was helping the Nazis massacre 500 Jews in Olevsk. Aghast, Borovets regrets ever being party to the Nazis and doesn't think he can wash his hands clean of that, even after he turned on his former partners.
  • In the Spivavtor path, Ohloblyn's use of voter suppression makes him the leading candidate to win the elections, in which Borovets feels ashamed for ever collaborating with him and setting the stage for him to become President. In particular, he's driven to tears when he imagines Bandera laughing at him and mocking that, unlike him, he would've eliminated Ohloblyn long ago.
• Rebel Leader:
  • Borovets is the very founder of the UNRA, turning it into Ukraine's second largest partisan organization with just a hundred men to start with.
  • If the UPA wins the civil war, Borovets retreats back into the shadows and reorganizes a western group of the Ukrainian People's Revolutionary Army.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's willing to contradict the Republic's ideals and subvert its democracy if it means saving the country from fascism. This puts him at odds with Stus if United Struggle wins the election, with the President considering Borovets the new threat to the Republic.
• Worthy Opponent: Borovets defected from the OUN long ago, but his determination is respected by Shukhevych, enough that he's willing to fight for United Struggle, if recruited.

Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic

Official Name: Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic

Ruling Party: Komunistychna Partiya (bil'shovykiv) Ukrayiny^note Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine

Ideology: National Communism^note Communism

The restored Soviet Ukraine declared by the Ukrainian Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, a Ukrainian communist resistance group made up of the remnants of the Soviet Ukrainian leadership.

See its recap page here.

---

General Tropes

• Combat Pragmatist: The Ukrainian communists hold no illusions that Ukraine could stand against the German war machine in a conventional war, or that the Reich would leave one of its most important colonies under communist rule. Instead, they seek to fill Ukraine with partisans that can continue to harass German occupation forces even after they come knocking. While holding off the initial invasion is all but impossible for Ukraine, the communists are the only faction who fully see this coming and do prepare for it, and the industrialised partisan warfare makes it just as difficult for Germany to occupy Ukraine in the aftermath.
• The Dreaded: For the Reichskommissariat. They are the continuation of the Ukrainian SSR and came close to overthrowing the German colonial regime in the 50s. Now, they survive in the east as a professional resistance movement, with strong political coherence and broad support from Ukraine's working class.
• Enemy Mine:
  • The U-SSR's ranks are filled with communists who ideologically disagree with each other, yet remain united by their shared hatred of the Nazis and the other partisan groups. Shumskyi lightheartedly jokes that they can start shooting at each other, once their mutual enemies are taken care of.
  • Despite their incompatible ideologies and mutual apprehension, the U-SSR can negotiate a truce with the UNRA so that they can focus on fighting the Nazis and the UPA.
• Historical Relationship Overhaul: Unlike OTL Stalin, TNOTL Bukharin did not aggressively purge Ukraine of "Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism", leading to Soviet Ukraine developing in a trajectory quite different from real life. Ukrainization was allowed to continue, the Holodomor didn't happen, and the U-SSR by 1962 is led by National Communists or Moscow critics like Shumskyi or Richytskyi (both of whom were purged in real life), rather than the Moscow-aligned Kaganovich/Khrushchev (and their affiliates) of OTL.
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople): Under Bukharin and Shumskyi's interwar government, the cities of Yelysavethrad (Yelizavetgrad) and Yuzivka (Yuzovka) were renamed Kirovo and Skrypnykhrad, instead of Kirovohrad and Stalino like in real life; "Kirovo" is a more "Ukrainian-styled" name for a city named after Sergei Kirov, while Skrypnykhrad is named after Ukrainian communist Mykola Skrypnyk (a pro-autonomy opponent of Stalin, who came to power in TNOTL while Stalin didn't). After RK Ukraine underwent decommunisation, these cities were given new names; once the Ukrainian SSR liberates them, these names will once again be used, albeit temporarily.
• Language Barrier: Many of the U-SSR's soldiers are Russians who can't speak Ukrainian. This problem concerns Shumskyi and he may invest in teaching the language, though Richystki doesn't see a problem himself.
• Not-So-Abandoned Building: The partisans make use of seemingly abandoned buildings as safehouses for their members to hide, recover from injuries, and contact one another via radios. An injured partisan stumbles into a supposedly abandoned safehouse, applying first aid before tuning into the radio to see if the German are onto him.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: After the invasion of the USSR by Germany, the Ukrainian SSR went underground to form a formidable resistance group in the Volhynia and Zhytomyr regions. During the West Russian War, the Ukrainian Workers' and Peasants' Red Army came close to successfully overthrowing the Reichskommissariat before making a retreat to the eastern Ukraine in more defendable positions.
• Propaganda Machine: The U-SSR steals a print press to mass produce documents on how to make weapons and strategize against the German patrols.
• The Remnant: The Ukrainian SSR government continued operating underground after the Soviet Union's downfall, and re-emerges in the aftermath of Hitler's death.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: The communists have long been thought by the Germans to have been exterminated, only to be proven wrong, following Koch's coma and the resurgence in partisan activity, which is powerful enough for them to hold down the Mykolaiv region for a time.
• La Résistance: The Ukrainian communists have continued a guerrilla campaign against the Nazis and can finally overthrow them during the Ukrainian Civil War. Even if they're annexed by the Reich when it comes knocking, they'll continue trying to make Ukraine a living hell for the Germans through constant partisan activity.
• Shown Their Work: Ever wondered why Soviet Ukraine in TNO is called a Socialist Soviet Republic and not a Soviet Socialist Republic? The OTL Soviet Ukraine was actually known by that name from 1919 to 1936, when the Stalin Constitution renamed it. Given that Stalin did not come into power in TNO timeline, it is plausible that Soviet Ukraine might still be known under its old name.
• Tactical Withdrawal: With the brunt of the Wehrmacht bearing down on the partisans as a response to the West Russian War, the U-SSR made a tactical withdrawal to the east of Ukraine in what came to be known as the Long March East.
• We Have Reserves: They may be one of the more sympathetic sides of the Ukrainian Civil War, but they can also be occasionally callous when it comes to sacrificing individuals lives for the greater goal. Many young recruits are called to suicidal offensives, running into certain death against the German machine guns to wear them down, in spite of the casualties that will be inflicted.
• You Lose at Zero Trust: One of the U-SSR's mechanics involves managing its relationship with the Ukrainian people, building up their trust and authority. Failing will force the government to adopt increasingly dictatorial measures and could jeopardize any attempts of preparing a strong resistance against the Germans.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: German propaganda paints the communist partisans as terrorists who are plaguing the country and not freedom fighters who are valiantly fighting for its liberation. When they rise up in civil war, they officially throw off the label of "bandits"; they're now fighting for a revolution.

Chairman

Oleksandr Shumskyi

Role: Chairman of the Communist Party of Ukraine^note Head of State

Party: Komunistychna Partiya (bil'shovykiv) Ukrayiny^note Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine

Ideology: National Communism^note Communism

In-Game Biography (Ukrainian Civil War) ^{Click to Show}To the likes of a man such as Oleksandr Yakovych Shumskyi, life is always an uphill battle. In every corner, those who opposed him would always stand in his way, and facing them was a life long uphill battle of ideals and ideologies, and the hill was not an easy one to climb. Unlike many others in his time, he was a man of action, not just words, and was sick of politicians and bureaucrats babbling about their ideal world, Shumskyi was the only one bold enough to turn his words into action.

For a Ukrainian boy born into a minor noble home, a dull future seemed upsettingly inevitable. He studied in the city of Moscow, and instead of finding life dull, he found the key to his future through revolutionary politics. Perhaps that is what pressured Shumskyi into pursuing another life, or perhaps it was destiny for a man like Shumskyi, and it would certainly seem to be something of destiny for any soldier or orator of such skill. Fortunately for the people of Ukraine, Shumskyi is both.

Having fought for the Revolution against the Whites, and then against the Germans since they first stepped foot into Ukrainian soil, Oleksandr Shumskyi has dedicated every moment of his life not only for the Ukrainian revolution, but for the Ukrainian people. Since his first clashes with Bukharin for Ukrainianization projects to be carried through, not to mention his constant pushes for a Ukrainian Home Army which have only been a blessing since, many regard Shumskyi as the Lion which has saved not only Ukraine from total Russian or German domination, but the savior of Ukrainian culture.

Of course, this position can only last for so long, before the Germans come back to tread on Ukrainian soil once more, and they return to lock the chain around the collective Ukrainian neck. If anyone can put a stop to such a thing happening again, however, it is Oleksandr Shumskyi.

---

• Beneath the Mask: Out of all the U-SSR's top men immediately before the civil war, Shumskyi keeps his stoicism and calm the best, but not even his thousand-yard stare can disprove the fact that he's secretly nervous, about to gamble everything he has on finally ridding the Nazis.
• Chummy Commies: He still adheres to the old Communist ideology of the Soviet Union and now fights to liberate his country, even if temporarily.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: To Shumskyi's dismay, he's been so desensitized to the Nazis' violence that a retaliatory massacre can barely evoke a reaction from him.
• Defiant to the End:
  • When the Germans win the civil war, they take Shumskyi and the rest of his collaborators to a show trial so they can be hanged. However, the noose tightens around Shumskyi's neck and his gag slips, giving him an opportunity to loudly denounce his captors and proclaim a last rallying cry for the U-SSR's revolution. The guards struggle to suppress his outburst and Ohlendorf is quick to remind them to gag him properly.
  • If Klyachkivsky wins the civil war and averts the fraternal coup, Shumskyi will be sent to a rigged court trial to be summarily executed. Though taken aback by the rapidity of the trial, Shumskyi maintains enough composure to remain steady for the cameras and yell his undying commitment to Marxism-Leninism.
• The Determinator: Ever since studying in Moscow, Shumskyi has dedicated his life to fighting for a communist Ukraine, free from foreign subjugation. From the Whites during the Russian Civil War to the Nazi Jackboot, he has remained undeterred and was a major advocate of greater Ukrainian autonomy and nationalism within the Soviet Union. Now a guerrilla leader deep in the forests of eastern Ukraine, he bides his time for the eventual liberation of Ukraine, with the same revolutionary energy he wielded back in 1919.
• A Father to His Men: Shumskyi hates it when his men perish in the fight for liberation, swearing that their deaths will not be in vain.
• Hanging Around: If defeated by the Reichskommissariat or the UPA in Klyachkivsky's path, Shumskyi will be sentenced to execution by hanging.
• Not So Stoic: Shumskyi is bared fazed by anything, so it says a lot about how rigged Klyachkivsky's show trials are when Shumskyi's legs shiver upon being rapidly judged and sentenced.
• Self-Made Man: He was born into a minor noble home, but Shumskyi worked hard enough to overcome his lowly beginnings to lead one of the most prolific resistance movements in Ukraine and become a national hero.
• The Sleepless: Downplayed. Rodzolskyi thinks he hasn't had a good night's sleep in years, but that still hasn't dimmed Shumskyi's determination.
• Universally Beloved Leader: He's widely beloved by his fellow Ukrainians for his stark resistance against the Germans and for pushing for Ukrainization projects during Bukharin's reign.

Shumskyi Cabinet Members

Andriy Richytskyi

Role: First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks)^note Head of Government (Shumskyi cabinet)

Party: Komunistychna Partiya (bil'shovykiv) Ukrayiny^note Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine

Ideology: Left Communism^note Communism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}If you told a younger Anatoliy Pisotskyi - better known by his pseudonym Andriy Richytskyi - that he would serve as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine, he would dismiss it as a passing dream, unsuited for a man like him. After all, he was an intellectual, comfortable in his Ukapist niche. History would have other things in store for him.

As the UKP ideologue and a critic of the Ukrainian Bolsheviks, Richytskyi would bounce around minor U-SSR positions for several years before the merger with the KPU in 1925. Over time, he would grow close to party leader Mykola Skrypnyk and his bolshevik ideals. Now the secretary in a new, free Ukraine, he advocates nationwide common ownership through the organization of the population into a single network of communes, though time will tell if he can succeed.

---

• Character Tic: When he gets nervous, his hands unconsciously clench and unclench.
• The Determinator: Richytskyi has had a long history of political activism. He joined the USDRP to overthrow the German Hetmanate puppet state after World War I, formed the UKP in response to Symon Petliura's increasing conservatism, fought against Russian supremacists in the Soviet Union, and now engages in a guerrilla war against the Nazis. Throughout it all, Richytskyi has never thought once about compromising or letting the Revolution's ideals decay.
• Long Game: Richytskyi's main job is organizing the logistics and supply routes of the U-SSR's bases, keeping them alive long enough for an opportunity to rise and strike a vulnerable Reichskommissariat.
• Number Two: Richytskyi has risen to the position of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine, thanks to his friendship with previous party leader Mykola Skrypnyk. He strives to organize the population into a network of communes so they may practice common ownership.
• Old Soldier: Richytskyi is old and isn't as energetic as the younger members of the U-SSR, but this does not dim his devotion to the cause or his ability to organize their resistance activities.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Best known through the pseudonym Andriy Richytskyi, his birth name was Anatolly Pisotskyi.
• Took a Level in Badass: Richytskyi started as an intellectual and ideologue within the UKP who was critical of the Ukrainian Bolsheviks and spent most of his early career in minor positions within the SSR. Following the merger of the UKP into the KPbU in 1925, Richytskyi was propelled to First Secretary decades later.

Roman Rozdolskyi

Role: People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs^note Foreign Minister (Shumskyi cabinet)

Party: Komunistychna Partiya (bil'shovykiv) Ukrayiny^note Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine

Ideology: Bolshevik-Leninism^note Communism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Originally from Austrian Galicia, Roman Osipovich Rozdolskyi gives a different perspective than many of his East Ukrainian comrades. Born in Lviv just before the turn of the century, his commitment to Marxism is almost as old as his family's struggle for Ukrainian independence. Drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Army, Rozdolskyi was forced into a war between capitalists. When his subjugator fell, he would soon find his way into the revolutionary Red Army to fight for a more noble cause.

Rozdolskyi's careful scholarship of Marx's work and study across Europe has won him significant connections and acclaim from the communist movement internationally - An attribute recognized by the party, which granted him a substantial say over the new Soviet Republic's foreign affairs. Rozdolskyi must be able to leverage and pull these connections if the emancipatory promise of the Ukranian revolution is to survive immediate German reprisal.

---

• The Face: Rozdolskyi's study of Marx's work and travels across Europe allowed him to connect with the international communist community. For this, he is treated as the U-SSR's representative in foreign matters and will need to leverage his connections to prepare for German retaliation.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Rozdolskyi is a committed Trotskyite, which used to put him at ideological odds with the other Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union. However, two decades of Nazi subjugation has made such ideological divisions unimportant and Rozdolskyi has developed a genuine respect for Shumskyi, bringing Trotsky's supporters under the same umbrella.
• It's Personal: Having grown up in Galicia, its invasion and return to Ukraine is a personal matter to Rozdolskyi.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Subverted. Born in Lviv during its rule under Austria-Hungary, Rozdolskyi was forcibly conscripted to fight in their army during the First World War, but this did little to dampen his Marxist loyalties or resentment of fighting in a "war between capitalists". Once Austria-Hungary fell apart, Rozdolskyi defected to the Ukrainian Red Army.

Vsevolod Holubnychyi

Role: Chairman of the UkSRR Derzhiplan^note Economy Minister (Shumskyi cabinet)

Party: Komunistychna Partiya (bil'shovykiv) Ukrayiny^note Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine

Ideology: Communism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Vsevolod Holubnychyi was once merely one of millions of forced laborers in Germany, stolen from his home in Kharkiv in 1943 at the young age of 15. To any observer, he seemed doomed to follow the fate of so many souls consumed by the Reich - until he encountered an underground KPbU cell among Ukrainian Ostarbeiter, where he would become acquainted with Marxism.

Quickly making a name for himself as a rising star in the intellectual wing of the communist partisan movement upon his eventual return to the Reichskommissariat, specializing in economic readings of Marx's theories, he now stands as the head of the Ukrainian socialist republic's economic apparatus, hoping to use his position to push for the decentralized council-communist system he has always advocated.

---

• Character Tic: When nervous, Holubnychi paces around a room in a clockwise direction. Just before the civil war starts, he does this for hours on end, knowing that the success and failure of the U-SSR is out of his hands.
• Made a Slave: Holubnychyi was one of millions of slaves who were stolen from their homes in Ukraine. Fortunately, he escaped and joined an underground KPbU cell, dedicated to the liberation of his homeland.

Mykola Zubatenko

Role: People's Commissar of Internal Affairs^note Security Minister (Shumskyi cabinet)

Party: Komunistychna Partiya (bil'shovykiv) Ukrayiny^note Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine

Ideology: National Communism^note Communism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Mykola Ivanovych Zubatenko fits well into the idea of a model Chekist, steadfast in conviction, efficient in action, and relentless in pursuit of the enemy. Born in 1917 to a Ukrainian family in Donetsk, Zubatenko would later find himself drafted into the Red Army in 1939 where he chose to join the NKVD. During his studies at the NKVD commissary in Moscow, he felt alienated by his Russian surroundings, wishing soon to return to his homeland of Ukraine.

As Moscow fell, Zubatenko fought as part of a motorized rifle unit and later slipped away to Ukraine, where he would take part in the local communist partisan movement, gaining influence as the Nazi occupation limped on. He had firmly opposed Tymofiy Strokach’s catastrophic decision to launch the general uprising in 1956, which pushed Zubatenko towards his now close friend and like-minded associate Shumskyi. Zubatenko now commands the security apparatus of the Communist underground, his one goal - To ensure both that there may be no freedom for the enemies of the revolution and that there must be freedom for its friends, a goal he will attempt to dedicate the rest of his career and life to.

---

• All of the Other Reindeer: Zubatenko joined the NKVD when he was conscripted in 1939. However, he felt alienated by the Russians during his studies in Moscow and wanted to return home, something which he achieved when Moscow fell and he slipped behind the front lines back to Ukraine.
• The Cassandra: Zubatenko opposed Tymofiy Strokach's attempt to launch a general uprising in 1956, which proved disastrous and force the U-SSR to flee eastward. This decision also pushed Zubatenko closer to Shumskyi.
• The Dreaded: As leader of the Ukrainian NKVD, Zubatenko is feared as a relentless and effective leader by the various anti-communist elements within Ukraine. Zubatenko will punish enemies of the revolution while protecting the freedom of the common people and their allies.

Other Important People

Lyudmila Pavlichenko

Role: N/A

---

• Action Girl: She taught herself how to become a sniper and will never stop fighting the Nazis, explicitly refusing to turn in and become a housewife while the Germans are still a threat. When her arm is injured and ordered by the doctor to stay in an apartment to heal, Pavlichenko gets restless, thinking that she should be out fighting instead.
• Crusading Widow: Her husband died when the Germans invaded Kyiv. Since then, she's vowed to liberate Ukraine from the Nazis, from Rostov to Lviv.
• The Face:
  • She used to be Bukharin's representative to the United States and Canada. Pavlichenko recalls meeting Eleanor Roosevelt and being denied a tour by Dewey and Taft.
  • Pavlichenko is promoted to general so that she can become the U-SSR's mascot, being far better known than the old, stuffy bureaucrats and partisans who are really the ones in charge. However, she is not happy when her colleagues try to control what she says, affirming the right to give her own speeches.
• Hidden Depths: As much as she initially doesn't like it, Pavlichenko is a better writer than she gives herself credit for. While journaling during her arm recovery, her doctor recommends that they should be spread through the underground papers and her commander gives her a promotion so that she can be put front-and-center of the U-SSR.
• A Mother to Her Men: Though stern with her recruits, Pavlichenko is proud of them and confident that they can liberate Kyiv one day.
• Not Like Other Girls: While recovering from an arm injury, Pavlichenko is advised to journal as part of the healing process. She laments being stuck with this task, comparing it to being "some pathetic, cow-eyed bourgeois woman waiting for her husband to return home from fighting". However, she later thinks about how other influential communists were writers themselves and reconsiders her previous attitude to be haughty, so Pavlichenko gives journaling another go, no matter how stilted her prose is.
• Plucky Girl: Pavlichenko doesn't give up hope that Ukraine can be liberated, considering each living day a small step against the Nazi regime. She maintains this optimism during the Ukrainian Civil War, confident that its ravages will heal over time.
• War Hero: Pavlichenko is a renowned Soviet sniper, having fought Germany since the Second World War. Her inspiration later motivates her promotion to general and, whenever the U-SSR liberates a city, Pavlichenko is greeted with cheers from the citizens.

Ukrainian State

Official Name: Ukrainian State

Ruling Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Klyachkivtsi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Klyachkivskyists

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

The Ukrainian republic declared by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the rabidly violent and xenophobic nationalist paramilitary forces founded by Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera.

See its recap page here.

---

General Tropes

• Ascended Meme: In teasers for the Ukrainian Civil War, Klyachkivsky's old biography started with "The murder of Stepan Bandera in the Mauthausen concentration camp was the greatest crime of the 20th century", a statement that would be memetically parroted whenever the UPA were mentioned. In acknowledgement of how well-known it was, a later hotfix to "The Ruin" update reused the sentence for "The Dispirited, Deranged Domevoy" national spirit description, though "Mauthausen" was changed to "Sachsenhausen".
• Asshole Victim: The entire UPA command, including its three potential leaders, will be executed if the Germans win the civil war and, given their own fascist sympathies, they are the least sympathetic faction to get destroyed by the Nazis.
• Beneath Notice: The UPA may not be treated as an immediate concern to the Germans because of their small size.
• Blood Knight: Klyachkivsky, Shukhevych, and Stetsko all glorify the fight against the Germans. When the civil war is about to happen, Klyachkivsky delivers a passionate speech about facing the Germans head-on, while Shukhevych and Stetsko eagerly imagine the victories they will score.
• Les Collaborateurs: The UPA, as part of the OUN, were among those Ukrainians who collaborated with Nazi Germany after the invasion of the Soviet Union, though they have since broken with their erstwhile overlords, seeing collaboration to have long since outlived its usefulness—with the exception of Stetsko, who is intelligent enough to know that Germany will return and that Ukraine won't stand a chance.
• Defeat as Backstory: During the 1950s, the UPA were almost destroyed by the Germans due to a crushing defeat in the "Second Struggle" and many suspected that defeat would spell their end. However, Klyachkivsky managed to prevent a complete collapse of the UPA and has slowly rebuilt their forces since.
• Didn't See That Coming: Due to their shared fascist beliefs and hatred of Judaeo-Bolshevism, the Banderites readily collaborated with Germany during Operation Barbarossa and eagerly participated in the Holocaust. However, they failed to see that the Reich also saw them as subhumans and would never allow them to establish Ukraine as an independent fascist state as they dreamt, and any short-term possibility of rapprochement between the two sides was snuffed out with Bandera's death in a concentration camp.
• Evil Welcomes Defectors: Ukrainian collaborators are allowed to defect to the UPA. Those who don't will be executed.
• Final Solution:
  • They believe that Ukraine is for Ukrainians and Ukrainians alone. They see all Jews, Russians, Germans, Poles, Romanians and Hungarians as occupiers that must be cleansed from their country.
  • In Klyachkivsky's path, the reports of Polish resistance in Galicia is enough for the Vozhd to declare a genocidal campaign on them. He doesn't even care if the Polish partisans will target Ukrainian citizens in retaliation, ordering his generals to give them rifles and orders to shoot any Pole on sight.
  • A similar ethnic cleansing campaign is carried out in Shukhevych's path, if the Galician War lasts longer than three weeks. Impatient, the Vozhd orders every Pole in Galicia to either be killed or kicked out of their homes, eliminating any possibility for them to aid the insurgency and hinder the war effort.
• Historical Relationship Overhaul: In TNO, since the OUN's founder Yevhen Konovalets was not assassinated, the OUN remained unified until Konovalets died of lung cancer in 1945. Stepan Bandera then turned against Germany and immediately got sent to the Sachsenhausen camp (as he did in 1942 in real life), but since by this time Germany has already won WWII, they never had to free Bandera or work with the Banderites during their retreat. After Bandera died in the camp, his followers (i.e. the UPA and the OUN-B) never reconciled with Germany, and remained Germany's enemy from 1940s to 1960s.
• I Can Rule Alone: The OUN is led by three major personalities: Dmytro Klyachkivsky, Yaroslav Stetsko, and Roman Shukhevych. Despite being on the same side, all three men are plotting each other's downfall, competing for influence in the officer corps to see who will rule Ukraine when everyone else is destroyed.
• Meet the New Boss: For how much they hate the Nazis, the UPA share a good number of ideological similarities to them. They trumpet the "superiority of Ukrainian blood", ethnically cleanse groups they consider inferior, use nationalist rhetoric to sway the masses to their side, and enslave people to work in the factories. When a village is liberated by the UPA, some are horrified by their presence and speech, drawing disturbing parallels between them and the Nazis.
• Persecution Flip: Zig-Zagged. If the UPA wins the civil war, the once-privileged German settlers will be enslaved and left to fear further retaliation by the Ukrainian terrorists. However, it's not a complete turnaround of the racial hierarchy, since Russians, Poles and especially Jews are still persecuted by the UPA as they were by the Nazis. The only one to subvert German persecution is Stetsko, who accommodates the German settlers as part of his plan to appease the Reich.
• Pragmatic Villainy: When they first rise up, the UPA redistributes some land to the Ukrainians as a token gesture to earn their goodwill.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Some soldiers of the UPA don't necessarily agree with their ideological goals; they're more so interested in the security and additional food rations they can provide.
• Red and Black Totalitarianism: The UPA is a fascist terrorist group whose flag's colors are primarily red and black.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: After the "Second Struggle", the Germans believed that they'd destroyed the UPA partisans. Much to the Germans' dismay, the UPA are still kicking and reveal themselves following Koch's coma.
• La Résistance: With the Germans arresting and killing Bandera due to his proclamation of Ukrainian independence, the Banderites broke with the Germans^{Historical note}the Banderites worked with Nazi Germany pre-WWII, and proclaimed independence under the expectation that the Nazis would recognize them as an ally, and overthrowing the German occupation regime became a part of their project to create a purified Ukrainian ethnostate.
• Sore Loser: The UPA do not take it well if Romania foils their Odesa hostage crisis and the Prydnistrov'ye section of the organization will retaliate by bombing the Council of Ministers. If successful, they will assassinate Penescu and throw the country into chaos out of spite.
• Stupid Evil: They're terrorist actions and genocidal goals fail to win them public support, which blunts their potential threat level to the Reichskommissariat, at least before the civil war.
• Undying Loyalty: At least in Shukhevych's clique. Shukhevych entrusts Kuk, Horbovyi, Pozychanyuk, and Volyshyn with his life, knowing how far their loyalty goes.
• Villain of Another Story: Besides terrorizing Ukraine, the UPA is also a problem for Romania, since the Transnistria Governorate occupies the Ukrainian city of Odesa. Shortly after Hitler's demise, the UPA will kidnap several hostages in Odesa and engineer a crisis where the Romanian government will need to rescue them.
• Villainous Underdog: Among the three Ukrainian resistance groups, the genocidal UPA has the smallest support base, and is the least likely faction to emerge victorious in the Ukrainian Civil War.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Factionalism plagues the UPA. Even before the civil war starts, Klyachikvsky is informed by Lenkavskyi and Myron about anti-Banderite leaflets being distributed by someone within the UPA, an early move showing how deep the friction goes.
• Western Terrorists: The Ukrainian Insurgent Army is a radical Ukrainian nationalist terrorist group whose modus operandi involves bombings, ambushes and assassinations.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Some of the more recent UPA recruits aren't wholly unsympathetic; they've suffered greatly under the Nazi jackboot and saw their friends and family killed by them, so getting revenge is the only thing they can do, even if it means getting more innocent people killed along the way.

Vozhds

Dmytro Klyachkivsky

^{Post-war portrait}

Role: Vozhd of Ukraine^note Head of State

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Klyachkivtsi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Klyachkivskyists

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

In-Game Biography (Ukrainian Civil War) ^{Click to Show}Loyalty. Valor. Sacrifice. Values Stepan Bandera deemed necessary for freedom, followed fervently by Dmytro Klyachkivsky. By Bandera's will, he cleansed Galicia and Volyn of the degenerates who tainted Ukraine's soil. When the Vozhd Konovalets succumbed to illness, they rallied the people against the arch-traitor Melnyk, who bowed to the Germans while they pillaged Ukraine.

Loyalty. Valor. Sacrifice. Values that are long lost. Klyachkivsky took up Bandera's mantle to lead the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The First Struggle was bloody, and many men fell to the wrath of German steel. While the true revolutionaries fought on, the weak-willed deserted. The Second Struggle had succeeded, until the spineless mongrels returned, serving the Reichskommisar for scraps, some even turned to republicanism. The hordes of betrayers had overwhelmed them, and Klyachkivsky would have revenge.

Loyalty. Valor. Sacrifice. Values that must be restored. Ukraine's people languish in chains, shackled by betrayers and their foreign masters. Only true strength can save them, not the decadent liberals, not the socialist Jews, and not the foreign cockroaches. They are a disease that must be cured, a poison whose taint can only be purged through the fires of battle. Ukraine will not be free until Bandera's will is done.

---

• Asshole Victim: If Shukhevych or Stetsko wield more influence than him, they will order his assassination during a tour through Kyiv, where his driver takes him to an alleyway and gets him gunned down. Both masterminds are fascists who took out their boss so that his war plans don't destroy the UPA, but there's minimal sympathy for a guy like Klyachikvsky.
• Avenging the Villain: Klyachkivsky admired Bandera and now fights the Nazis, partially because he wants to avenge his death, when he was taken to a concentration camp.
• Bad Boss:
  • Always paranoid, Klyachkivsky developed a nasty habit of randomly screaming and berating his servants.
  • Klyachkivsky gets even worse if the fraternal coup fails. Betrayed by his supposed allies and seeing enemies everywhere, Klyachkivsky orders random purges and executions within the UPA's ranks and decides who's a loyalist on a whim.
• Bait the Dog: Catching a bureaucrat embezzling funds after Shukhevych and Stetsko's elimination, Klyachkivsky seems to sympathize when the bureaucrat begs for mercy and excuses his actions to feed his starving children. Feeling merciful, Klyachkivsky does not order his execution. Instead, the bureaucrat pays by having his fingers broken.
• Beneath the Mask: He would never admit to anyone, but Klyachkivsky is insecure of his own leadership, wondering if Bandera would consider him a disgrace to his legacy.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Subverted if the UNRA defeats the UPA. When the UNRA soldiers find him, Klyachkivsky has a gun in his right hand and to his temple, but he gets captured before he can pull the trigger.
• Big Bad Wannabe: If Klyachkivsky wins the Ukrainian Civil War and consolidates power in the UPA, he'll dream of reclaiming the borders of Greater Ukraine, which will last for 5 years at best before Germany inevitably crushes his 'empire'.
• Due to the Dead: Klyachkivsky mourns his predecessor, Bandera, and ponders what he would think of the UPA's current status after 17 years after his demise and whether or not he would be disappointed.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Zig-Zagged if the fraternal coup fails. Klyachkivsky spares no kind words for Shukhevych, claiming that he never was trustworthy, and accusing him of being a liberal and an American or Jewish spy. However, Klyachkivsky feels more conflicted by Stetsko's betrayal, outraged by the betrayal of someone he thought trustworthy.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Klyachkivsky has a wife and children, whom he introduces to those he personally trusts. Them meeting Stetsko is also why Klyachkivsky feels so betrayed by his attempted coup.
• Glory Hound: Upon conquering Galicia, Klyachkivsky basks in the adulation he receives from his supporters, content that he will be known as the man who humiliated Poland and will make Ukraine whole.
• A God Am I: He doesn't outright call himself a god, but he certainly thinks of himself above a normal man; Klyachkivsky believes that he is the embodiment of Ukraine's vengeance, given providence to cleanse Ukraine of everyone he despises.
• Gonk: Contrary to the propaganda posters that make him look intimidating, Klyachkivsky looks like a dead man walking, at least after the fraternal coup. His skin is drawn in, he has a permanent furrow, and his mouth is always sucked in to look like a scowl.
• Hidden Depths: Unbeknownst to all but himself, Klyachkivsky is self-aware of how far the OUN and UPA have fallen since Bandera's death. Klyachkivsky feels insecure and even wrathful over how soiled Bandera's vision has become.
• Hypocrite: He calls the Poles living in Galicia "butchers" who have long oppressed the Ukrainians. It's an extremely racist tangent, but it perfectly describes his own oppression of the Poles living in his country's borders.
• It's Personal: One of the reasons why he wants to invade Galicia is because it was the home of Bandera, his personal idol.
• Knight Templar: He wants to liberate Ukraine from the Nazis by exterminating every foreigner in the country, and will not hesitate to kill his fellow countrymen if they don't share his vision.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Klyachkivsky is bitter rivals with Shumskyi. If the UPA defeats the U-SSR, Klyackivsky is disappointed to find Shumskyi already dead by a sniper's bullet and makes up for it by ordering his corpse to be dragged by a jeep as an example.
• Our Founder: Klyachkivsky has a statue of himself installed in the central square of Lutsk shortly after the UPA begins their uprising. If the UPA is defeated by the communists, the statue is symbolically decapitated.
• The Paranoiac: A failed fraternal coup teaches Klyachkivsky that he cannot trust anyone, leading him to liquidate UPA members, if he thinks they are a traitor. It's especially bad for any new recruits, where Klyachikivsky observes one group of them and picks the first two he sees as loyalists; everyone else is executed.
• Perpetual Frowner: His cynicism and paranoia after the failed fraternal coup etches a seemingly permanent scowl on his face.
• Rebel Leader: Klyachkivsky is the leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, who slaughter occupying German soldiers and even innocent civilians.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: Fighting in the thickets and hills of Galicia for nearly fifteen years has left Klyackivsky unfamiliar with Kyiv, a fact that he considers unacceptable, as the self-proclaimed liberator of Ukraine.
• Stupid Evil: He frequently snubs reliable UPA men in exchange for promoting his own sycophants. Such mistreatment drives them to join Stetsko and Shukhevych, allowing the UPA's factionalism to fester in the first place.
• Taking Up the Mantle: Klyachkivsky seeks to continue the legacy of Stepan Bandera, the former leader of the fascist OUN (b) who died in a concentration camp, by cleansing Ukraine of all Jews, Russians, Germans and Poles.
• Warhawk: Klyachkivsky is the most hawkish of the UPA's leaders. While everyone has plans to invade Poland and take Galicia, Klyachkivsky goes a step further in planning the reclamation of other territories. Notably, he's the only Vozhd who doesn't have a time limit to defeat Poland in the Galician War, being so militaristic and belligerent that his supporters will fight until they've won.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • Klyachkivsky used to be friends with Shukhevych, but the latter's pragmatism was too much for him to tolerate. As Klyachikvsky seized more power in the UPA, Shukhevych was offended that his years of loyal service were snubbed and their relationship has considerably strained since then. Despite this, Klyachkivsky hopes that they can reconcile, even though it is impossible at this point. However, any positive feelings evaporate during the fraternal coup, in which Klyachkivsky will renounce any friendship with Shukhevych, if he successfully averts it.
  • He also considers Stetsko a valuable ally. After an unsuccessful fraternal coup, Klyachkivsky sounds legitimately hurt to be betrayed by someone he thought he could trust.

Stepan Lenkavskyi

Role: First Minister to the Vozhd^note Head of Government (Victorious Klyachkivsky cabinet), Vozhd of Ukraine^note Head of State (Klyachkivsky assassinated)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Klyachkivtsi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Klyachkivskyists

Ideology: Ultranationalism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Stepan Lenkavskyi's most famous work begins: "You will attain a Ukrainian state or perish fighting for it." Now, surrounded by treachery on every side, Lenkavskyi is certain he will live up to that promise.

That work, The Decalogue of a Ukrainian Nationalist, was just one of many articles and statements which Lenkavskyi wrote during the early years of the OUN. He was a virulent and radical nationalist, a Dontsovite at heart who believed in nothing less than total Ukrainian supremacy.

Then came the Second World War, and a chance to prove his strength. He did not hold back. He first worked with Germans, standing beside their death squads as pogroms were carried out. Then, when they betrayed the cause, he fought them back like the beasts they were. The torrent of blood since has been endless, and he has never ceased in spilling more.

In many ways, Lenkavskyi's career has hardly been unique for his organization. Yet every time he has been presented with the opportunity to moderate his views or change his methods, he has doubled down. His vision of Ukraine has been sharpened, made pure. If anyone wishes to change it, they can argue with his bullets.

In-Game Biography (First Minister to the Vozhd) ^{Click to Show}Author of the Commandments of the Ukrainian Nationalist, Stepan Lenkavskyi has been an ally of Bandera from the earliest beginnings of the infamous revolutionary. A skilled administrator and the de facto leader of civilian affairs, Lenkavskyi approaches his work with the fiercest of zeal, for the Permanent Revolution cannot succeed abroad if it fails at home. As Klyachkivsky's right-hand man, he'll see their bloody task completed, no matter the cost.

---

• Dragon Ascendant: Lenkavskyi became an early follower of Bandera when he wrote The Commandments of the Ukrainian Nationalist and serves as Klyachkivsky's right-hand man, fighting for the Permanent Revolution with absolute zeal. If Klyachkivsky is assassinated, but Shukhevych and Stetsko wield equal influence, Lenvaksyi will take command of the UPA, calling for the execution of the latter two.
• Undying Loyalty: Lenkavskyi is totally loyal to Klyachkivsky. When Lenkayvskyi tells him that anti-Banderite propaganda is being disseminated from within the UPA's ranks, Klyachkivsky can't believe it, but knows Lenkavskyi's loyalty and ultimately trusts his word.

Roman Shukhevych

Role: Deputy Commander-in-Chief^note Head of Government (Klyachkivsky cabinet), Vozhd of Ukraine^note Head of State (Fraternal coup)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Shukhevychi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Shukhevychists

Ideology: Revolutionary Nationalism^note Fascism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Roman Shukhevych, Tur, Taras Chprynka - all names for a man haunted by his past. He was the German's Ukrainian golden boy, shining in blood. He was an officer in the Nachtigall battalions, perpetrating pogroms against the Jews of Lviv. He was a Hauptmann of Schutzmannschaft Battalion 201, partaking in the butchering of tens of thousands of Poles during the Galicia Volhynia massacres. His reward for these "anti-partisan measures" was betrayal from the Germans and the solidification of their hold over Ukraine.

That is his history, he may not be proud of it, but it is part of him. For Shukhevych, reconciling his past as a collaborator and his present as a resistance fighter is simple. The motivations that connected these two lives have not changed - every act he committed was in pursuit of a brighter Ukraine.

It is for the present and future he fights for. The purging of Klyachkivsky and Stetsko's cliques was necessary, already they had alienated so many potential allies in the fight against Germany. A house divided against itself cannot stand, and Ukraine's house is inches from the abyss. Unity is all that is left that can save it if it is already not too late...

In-Game Biography (Deputy Commander-in-Chief) ^{Click to Show}Roman Shukhevych, in his own words, is a patriot - a man who will do anything in the fight for a free and powerful Ukraine, serving as the second-in-command of the UPA and as one of their most experienced generals. To others, he is a traitor turned twice, first on his own, then on the Germans. A bloodthirsty brute who justifies slaughtering thousands of Poles as a means to an end.

Prevented from assuming leadership of the OUN after Bandera's death due to ideological purity, Shukhevych compromised with his opponents to maintain unity.

Despite this, he is a man who finds himself at odds with Klyachkivsky's fanaticism, Shukhevych feels he must act, but reluctance clouds his every thought. Backstabbing Klyachkivsky and abandoning the Permanent Revolution would make him no better than Melnyk.

But years of German exploitation have taken their toll on the nation, and even the UPA must compromise on their old ways. Real patriots understand that Ukraine's survival is more important than petty political squabbles, only time will tell if the rest of the UPA can.

---

• 0% Approval Rating: Dragging the Galician War past five weeks will turn almost everyone against Shukhevych. Having suffered so many casualties by this point in the war, thousands of Ukrainian families secretly blame Shukhevych for his broken promises and his own advisors, especially Pozychanyuk, are disappointed. The international community shares the disdain, aware of his ordered ethnic cleansing against the Polish populations, and condemns him as a monster. Not even his family supports him anymore, sharing the world's disgust at his ordered war crimes.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Unlike several of his other potential deaths, Shukhevych has a rather pitiful end if Stetsko wins the power struggle and orders him killed by firing squad. Shukhevych isn't afraid of his impending death and tries to get his son to safety, but he fails and both are taken to a wall so they can be shot. Shukhevych's last words are an affirmation to his son of how proud he is of him and apologizing for his failure, a sentiment that is reciprocated, before both are gunned down.
• Asshole Victim: If Klyachkivsky is the most influential leader, he will order Shukhevych to be hung on grounds of treason. Klyachkivsky might be worse than Shukhevych, but the latter is still a reprehensible fascist who had it coming.
• Bad Boss: Shukhevych has no patience for incompetence or cowardice, feeling nothing but contempt for those who don't meet his high standards of discipline.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: After eliminating Stetsko, Shukhevych needs to execute many of his remaining supporters, including Rebet, a man he respects. Shukhevych is uncomfortable with committing so many purges and becoming like Klyachkivsky, specifically comparing the Rebet's death to the detrimental purge of Fedun. He can only hope that he doesn't have to do something like this again.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Many are supportive of Shukhevych, but this support becomes fractured if the Galician War is not won within three weeks. In their minds, this uncovers Shukhevych's promises as delusions, severely harming the Vozhd's legitimacy and popular support.
  • His son Yuriy deeply admires him and wishes to prove his worth by fighting in the Galician War. However, if the war lasts past three weeks, Roman will order death squads to ethnically cleanse the region of Poles through extermination or deportation. Yuriy is so disgusted that, after the war, he calls him no better than the Nazis and disowns his father. Even his daughter and wife lose their respect for him, as the former leaves with Yuriy and the latter can only give a disappointed stare at him.
• The Charmer: Shukhevych has an innate charisma that can naturally attract people to follow his lead.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Shukhevych is a fascist, but he's also a competent military commander that is respected by even Borovets. If the UNRA wins, United Struggle can recruit him, with Borovets mentioning that he'd have him out in the field and not waste his talents on a white-collar office job.
• Defiant to the End: If the UNRA defeats the UPA, a cornered Shukhevych tries to fight back with a pistol, but he gets shot in the chest before he can do any serious harm.
• Do Wrong, Right: Shukhevych believes that Klyachkivsky has sullied Bandera's vision and plans to overthrow him so that he can set it back on the "right" path. At the end of the day, Shukhevych is still a fascist, but one more restrained and pragmatic.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Shukhevych is the second highest ranking officer in the UPA, opposed to Klyachkivsky and plotting his downfall.
• Enemy Mine:
  • Shukhevych joins Stetsko's fraternal coup against Klyachkivsky, both disagreeing with the Vozhd's heavy emphasis on militarism. Once Klyachkivsky is neutralized, Shukhevych immediately turns on Stetsko, moving so fast that the latter is legitimately surprised, despite expecting it.
  • To build his united front against Germany, Shukhevych can either offer forgiveness or a truce deal to the remaining Republican and Communist partisans, recruiting them against the common threat. Many take up the offer, having lost faith in their causes anyway.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved: His family reciprocates his affection for them. When the UNRA defeats the UPA, Yuriy joins Shukhevych's last stand against the UNRA and blindly charges at the soldiers when his father gets shot in the chest. However, this devotion doesn't extend as far as approving his potential use of death squads in the Galician War.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Shukhevych loves his wife and children, and part of the reason he opposes Klyachkivsky is because his war plans are going to get them killed. If his family renounces him after the Galician War, Shukhevych doesn't do anything against their condemnations, solemn that his actions have torn apart the family.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • While Shukhevych is a war criminal and Holocaust perpetrator in his own right, he can't agree with Klyachkivsky's fanaticism and seeks to overthrow him.
  • When told of a young UPA recruit who stole food rations for his starving grandmother, Shukhevych agrees with the notion that he should be punished. However, Shukhevych is astounded when the recruit is executed for his crime, considering it a mockery of justice and remaining silent for some time.
  • Shukhevych is uncomfortable about purging Rebet, who invited him to Stetsko's conspiracy against Klyachkivsky and served the UPA loyally for decades. He still goes through with it on grounds of being too closely associated with Stetsko, but only with much reluctance.
  • If the UNRA wins and Borovets recruits the UPA survivors, Shukhevych will mention his disdain for Ohloblyn, remarking that he'd have him shot, if he could. It's really significant that Shukhevych doesn't say anything that harsh about Dziuba, a socialist he also doesn't like.
• A Father to His Men: Shukhevych is one of the few UPA higher-ups to bother visiting his wounded men, feeling disgusted that the UPA's incompetence and factionalism is leaving them so vulnerable.
• Family-Values Villain: He deeply cares about his family and laments how many families have been destroyed by the wars in Ukraine. It's also how he can empathize and sway Pozychanyuk and Volyshyn to his side, since they're also fathers.
• Good Parents: He may be a fascist, but he also dotes over his children and cares about their wellbeing. In his own path and planned invasion of Poland, Roman may deny his son's request to volunteer for the front, worrying that he's going to be killed and confessing to his daughter that his son doesn't need to prove himself, having already loved him anyway.
• Hanging Around: If the fraternal coup goes awry, Shukhevych will be among the conspirators who are sentenced to death and hung on the gallows for weeks as an example.
• Heel Realization: When the Galician War ends between five to eight weeks, Shukhevych will draw ire from everyone, either for dragging the conflict for too long or ordering so many atrocities against the Poles. It's enough for Shukhevych to seriously reconsider his actions and visit the graves of those who perished, muttering a prayer to God for forgiveness.
• Hypocrite: Roman denounces the Nazis as butchers who have unjustly slaughtered millions of Ukrainians, but he can indulge the same war crimes against the Poles in his invasion of Galicia. His son rightfully calls him out on this, going as far as to accuse Roman that he never cared about the monstrosity of the Nazis' actions and was more concerned that it personally affected him.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Following the arrest of Stetsko for treason, Shukhevych and his allies are identified as co-conspirators. Initially wanting to resist, Shukhevych realizes how futile fighting would be against the more numerous guards, so he surrenders and accepts his fate.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Zig-Zagged. At first, Shukhevych comes off as the least reprehensible of the UPA's potential leaders, compared to the hawkish Klyachkivsky and Nazi bootlicker Stetsko. Shukhevych generally restrains himself from unnecessary violence and has slightly more sympathetic goals of creating a safe, independent Ukraine. However, if the Galician War lasts too long, Shukhevych will remove the gloves and order death squads to ethnically cleanse the Poles living in Galicia, exposing himself as no better than the other two potential Vozhds.
• Never My Fault: If his invasion of Galicia takes longer than eight weeks, Ukraine will be forced to white peace with Poland and walk away with their military and economy in shambles. Poznyachuk instantly blames Shukhevych for not peacefully negotiating with Poland and botching the entire situation, but the Vozhd refuses to take any responsibility for it, weakly retorting that diplomacy had no guarantee of success.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Though Slava does not abandon her husband's ideology and continues publishing his cause under pseudonyms, Shukhevych can respect her commitment enough to give some leniency to her rebellion and sentence her to life in prison. It's not good, but it's not as merciless as the fate met by Stetsko's other collaborators.
  • Despite being very busy running the country, Shukhevych tries to eat with his family a few times a week.
  • When his daughter notices his exhaustion and suggests that he get more rest, Shukhevych lightheartedly agrees to take a nap if she bakes more cookies, complimenting her baking.
  • He may grant his son's wishes to fight in the UPA's invasion of Poland, but Shukhevych assigns him away from the heavy fighting and prays for him, sharing his wife's worry that he'll be killed.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Shukhevych is a relatively moderate Banderite who is less focused on enforcing rigid ideological conformity and extremism than Klyachkivsky is. For one, he can reluctantly negotiate with the defeated Republicans and Communists to form a united front against Germany, even though he has no sympathy for their ideologies.
  • He's not so eager to immediately commit genocide against the Polish people, largely out of pragmatism. While Klyachivsky fondly recalls the massacres against the Poles in Galicia and Volyn, Shukhevych doesn't enjoy them and only does so to appease the Germans. Shukhevych also laments the good men they are wasting by killing the Poles, thinking they should be focusing their attacks on the Germans.
• Reluctant Ruler: Shukhevych doesn't really enjoy the task of leading a nation, liking it better when the UPA was a limited, smaller militant group. For him, managing national politics is bound to create tension and disunity, which is something the UPA doesn't need.
• Shot at Dawn: Shukhevych can be killed by a victorious Stetsko when he's sentenced to death by firing squad, along with his son.
• Taking Up the Mantle: Unlike Klyachkivsky, Shukhevych takes up the legacy of Yevhen Konovalets, whom he met when he was just a teenager and became an apprentice to. Now much older, Shukhevych wants to not only model himself after Konovalets, but be superior.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: After being given amnesty and recruited into the UNRA by Vasyl Stus, Shukhevych remains uneasy about working with the socialist Dziuba and the collaborator Ohloblyn.
• Threatening Mediator: One of his civil servants, a former Republican, lets a man with quarter-Polish descent keep his bought land from a Ukrainian supremacist who wants the farm back without compensation. This starts a massive debate that frustrates Shukhevych, so the Vozhd intervenes by telling them to resolve the situation by the time he gets back, threatening to get a communist civil servant to make a decision if they don't.
• The Unapologetic: He has no shame or regret about the awful things he's done in the UPA, which makes him a questionable leader to rally behind. Nonetheless, some are willing to overlook this and support him, due to his disinterest in politics and their greater disdain for Klyachkivsky.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Of all the potential UPA leaders, Shukhevych has the least malicious goal of them, earnestly believing that he's building a safe Ukraine where families will no longer be ripped apart by war or strife. Unfortunately, a lot of people will die in the process and Shukhevych will usually not care.
• We Used to Be Friends: He and Klyachikvsky used to be strong friends and comrades, but their ideological disagreements drove a wedge between them and they are now scheming against each other for control of the UPA.
• Worthy Opponent: His opportunism is somewhat respected by Klyachkivsky, even though Shukhevych is considered a rival to his position.

Yaroslav Stetsko

Role: Head of Political Education^note Foreign Minister (Klyachkivsky cabinet), Vozhd of Ukraine^note Head of State (Fraternal coup)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Stets'koity^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Stetskotists

Ideology: Naturalised National Socialism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}Morality has no place in Yaroslav Stetsko's perfect world. It was erased alongside so many other idiotic concepts when he awakened to the truths of Banderite wisdom at a tender age. That was when he learned his purpose, to dedicate his life to a free and pure Ukraine. Cockroaches like Stsiborskyi lacked the will - he is unfettered - ready to rid his nation of pollutants - from the Jews, the communists, and all the other lesser races.

Germany may have solved these problems, but Ukraine has been left wallowing in filth, reeling from the improper tutelage given by that ignorant racist Koch. A brute consumed by his own biases, unaware of Lypa's writings that proved that Ukrainians were of the same genetic stock as Germans. Yet Koch kept them in bondage, rejecting science until the UPA was forced to prove the strength of their race.

The people have chosen him to become Ukraine's Hitler, to rid his nation of disease, and to turn nationalism into National Socialism. Stetsko's land will be a paradise that Bandera himself would smile down upon. Only then will Germany see the errors of their ways and embrace Ukraine as brothers, soon to be united in the fight against Judeo-Bolshevism.

In-Game Biography (Head of Political Education) ^{Click to Show}Yaroslav Stetsko is defined by four things, his undying loyalty to Bandera, his deep hatred of communism, his vast intellect, and his complete moral bankruptcy. Stetsko first befriended Bandera following a snub by Stsiborskyi, a slight Stetsko would never forgive. Like Bandera, Stetsko is deeply inspired by Nazi thought, to an extent that people have not yet been able to completely determine.

As a civilian in a place of authority, Yaroslav Stetsko is in a rare position. A man of supreme intelligence and cunning, he has the unique task of coordinating operations in the logistical nightmare that is the wartorn battlefields of Ukraine. After all, those orders don't reach the men by themselves.

But Stetsko's own personal biases slip into these communiques like traces of poison being dropped into a well. Every so often, a message containing warnings of Jewish infiltration or advocacy for Germany is sent to each UPA cell. Many ignore it, but each day, more and more find themselves persuaded by Stetsko's appeals for German accommodation in their shared fight against Bolshevism.

---

• 0% Approval Rating: If Stetsko doesn't conquer Galicia by the sixth week, he will have no choice but to white peace with Poland. This decision and the thousands of lives lost reflects badly on Stetsko, where the once friendly citizens and media turn on him. It gets so dangerous that his military units and officials start getting targeted by his emboldened enemies, in which Stetsko needs a rotating round of bodyguards to protect himself.
• Asshole Victim:
  • If Klyachkivsky holds the most influence, Stetsko's coup will fail and he will be sentenced to death by hanging. One might be squeamish about Klyachkivsky cementing his own power, but no one's going to shed a tear for a Nazi sympathizer like Stetsko.
  • Stetsko meets another ignoble end if Shukhevych wins the power struggle, where he gets tackled by the latter's guards and is shot in the head for treason. It's another situation of a fascist killing a fascist.
• Bad Boss: Stetsko is a cruel Vozhd who uses terror and death threats to cow his subordinates and enemies into submission. He knows that this will not make him loved or admired, but he does not care for either.
• Didn't Think This Through: He helps the infamously hawkish Klyachkivsky take over Ukraine, yet gets surprised when the Vozhd invades Gotenland and sacrifices the UPA's long-term survival to satiate his ambitions.
• Dirty Coward: While his planned subservience to the Reich sounds pragmatic, his reasoning is clearly emotional and based on self-preservation, at least if Lenkavskyi takes over. After realizing how badly he's going to look when Germany returns, Stetsko has a nervous breakdown and only recovers when he realizes he can bow to their feet, offering the UPA's great armies to subdue Ukraine for them.
• Do Wrong, Right: Stetsko still believes in the early OUN program of allying with Nazi Germany in the fight against Judeo-Bolshevism, and dismisses Germany's oppression of Ukrainians as individual errors committed by Koch.
• Enemy Mine: To build support for his fraternal coup, Stetsko proposes a truce with Shukhevych to take out their mutual enemy, Klyachkivsky. Both are not fond of each other either and will return to being enemies, after Klyachkivsky is assassinated.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Both are abhorrent fascists, but Yaroslav and Slava are affectionate with each other, giving each other smiles, hugs, and kisses.
• The Face: While most of the main personalities in the UPA are military men, Stetsko is a civilian, but a very intelligent and charismatic one. Stetsko is the most persuasive of the three leaders, making him one of the movement's main leaders, alongside Klyachkivsky and Shukhevych.
• Faux Affably Evil: Stetsko is a member of the UPA, but his charisma and promises of peace make him an attractive figure to those who want to wrest control from the military. Unfortunately, it's all a front to how paranoid and violent he is, willing to conduct massacres and purge his allies at a whim.
• Hanging Around: If Klyachikivsky wields more influence and thwarts his coup, Stetsko will be found guilty of treason and sentenced to death by hanging, leaving his corpse for weeks as a striking display against anyone else who dares oppose the Vozhd.
• Hypocrite: Stetsko will eagerly kill Shukhevych to eliminate him as a rival, but if the tables are turned, Stetsko will call him a traitor. Shukhevych calls Stetsko out on the hypocrisy.
• It's All About Me: He considers himself the face of Ukraine; his allies and generals are nothing to him for that reason.
• Long Game: In the appropriately named "He that Plots" event, Stetsko isolates himself in a dark room, plotting to take over the UPA and eliminate his rivals, while still cooperating with them in the short term.
• Meet the New Boss: Some, like Maivsky, support Stetsko in the fraternal coup because they think Klyachkivsky is too violent and paranoid for their tastes. Many of these same turncoats regret their decision if the coup succeeds, as Stetsko proves no less bloodthirsty than his predecessor and he executes anyone with the slightest possible hint of treachery.
• Pet the Dog: After hiring Slava as Head of the Foreign Office, Yaroslav warmly assures her that she will be up to the task, complimenting that she's the best candidate he knows.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Stetsko expresses distaste for Klyachkivsky's extreme militarism, believing that a charismatic speaker like him is a better leader than a mad warhawk.
  • If he botches the Galician War, Stetsko knows that he's made a lot of enemies, but he can't move aggressively against them because there are too many people out to get him. For now, the best approach he can do is lie low and wait for matters to calm down.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If the UNRA wins the civil war, Stetsko flees to unknown parts, being the only one of the leading UPA trio to evade capture.
• Superior Successor: He wants to collaborate with Germany, much like Melnyk. However, Stetsko distinguishes himself as a more worthy and strong leader than Melnyk, whom he believes has made Ukraine weak and corrupt.
• Unholy Matrimony: For many years, Yaroslav Stetsko's closest confidant has been his wife Slava, who is no less of a vile fascist than he is.
• Voluntary Vassal: Correctly knowing that he can't beat Germany, Stetsko plans to save his hide by surrendering to the Reich, opening Ukraine to the dozens of German industrial and chemical corporations to exploit and averting any need for the Nazis to fight for the country.

Victorious Klyachkivsky Cabinet Members

Dmytro Myron

Role: Head of the Political Department^note Foreign Minister (Victorious Klyachkivsky cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Klyachkivtsi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Klyachkivskyists

Ideology: Ultranationalism

In-Game Biography (Head of the Political Department) ^{Click to Show}A close ally of Lenkavskyi and Bandera, Dmytro Myron has served faithfully as an ideologist for the OUN-B and UPA. Myron has always been an ardent advocate for the supreme power of the nation-state, and serves as a propagandist, encouraging Ukrainians within and without her borders to rise against their oppressors so Ukraine may be one from the San to the Caucasus. With the carnage of war on the horizon, Myron once more stokes the hearts of Ukrainians to face their oppressors.

---

• Propaganda Machine: Myron is the OUN-B and UPA's chief propagandist, urging Ukrainians to fight for their glorified past and nationalism.
• Undying Loyalty: Myron is absolutely loyal to Klyachkivsky, which is why the Vozhd can trust him completely.
• Visionary Villain: Stoking the flames of Ukrainian supremacism, Myron imagines a future where Ukraine can stretch from the San to the Caucasus and forge an empire for themselves, by far one of the most radical ambitions within the UPA's ranks.

Vasyl Halasa

Role: Minister of Finance^note Economy Minister (Victorious Klyachkivsky cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Klyachkivtsi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Klyachkivskyists

Ideology: Ultranationalism

In-Game Biography (Minister of Finance) ^{Click to Show}Vasyl Halasa is not a man unfamiliar with poverty and hardship, having been a brickmaker as a child to help support his family when his father died. He pursued an education in economics, only having half completed it before joining the OUN and UPA and partaking in their massacres.. As Klyachkivsky readies the nation for conquest, Halasa must fuel it by any means necessary. Even with his insufficient education, there can be no room for doubt, it's prosper or perish.

---

• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: When he was a boy, he worked as a brickmaker to financially support his family, especially after his father died.
• Warhawk: Halasa's main job is to prepare Ukraine for war to regain their claimed territories, under the spearhead of Klyachkivsky.
• Wrong Line of Work: Halasa is assigned by Klyachkivsky to kickstart the economy, once the civil war is over and reconstruction can begin. Halasa is taken aback by this, knowing he's ill-suited to the job, but Klyachkivsky will not take no for an answer and gives him a last warning to not disappoint the Vozhd.

Mykhailo Medvid

Role: Regional Commander^note Security Minister (Victorious Klyachkivsky cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Klyachkivtsi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Klyachkivskyists

Ideology: Ultranationalism

In-Game Biography (Regional Commander) ^{Click to Show}Mykhailo Medvid is a true exemplar of the Permanent Revolution. As a close subordinate of Klyachkivsky, Medvid successfully performed operations that trained soldiers, developed communications, and built public support. As officers gave their lives for the struggle, Medvid took their place, showing further talent as a commander and a fervent dedication to liberation. All Ukrainians should aspire to be Medvid, for Medvid aspires for their salvation.

---

• Villain with Good Publicity: Medvid is a Ukrainian supremacist, but his valor in battle makes him a hero in the UPA's eyes.
• War Hero: He has an accomplished record as a partisan fighter, training soldiers, preparing their communications, and building public support for the UPA. As such, Medvid is treated as a role-model for all Ukrainians to aspire to.

Lenkavskyi Cabinet Members

Ivan Butkovskyi

Role: Emergency Advisor^note Head of Government (Lenkavskyi cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Klyachkivtsi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Klyachkivskyists

Ideology: Stratocracy^note Ultranationalism

---

• You Are in Command Now: Butkovskyi is immediately brought on as an emergency advisor after Klyachkivsky's assassination, but Shukhevych and Stetsko have equal influence, meaning that Lenkavskyi has to hastily assemble a cabinet.

Shukhevych Cabinet Members

Volodymyr Horbovyi

Role: Minister of Finance^note Economy Minister (Klyachkivsky and Shukhevych cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Klyachkivtsi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Klyachkivskyists (Klyachkivsky cabinet), Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Shukhevychi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Shukhevychists (Shukhevych cabinet)

Ideology: Social Nationalism^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography (Minister of Finance) ^{Click to Show}Volodymyr Horbovyi is one of the few remaining members of the Banderite old guard. As a lawyer, he represented their members in court while they operated in Polish-occupied Ukraine. Now, Horbovyi serves as one of the few civilian administrators with significant experience in the UPA. The increasing violence and isolation from the Ukrainian populace has worried the elder lawyer, and he fears that the UPA will be destroyed if it can't correct its course.

---

• Even Evil Has Standards: He sympathizes with a young UPA recruit who stole extra food rations for his grandmother and, despite agreeing that he deserves punishment, is taken aback when the recruit is executed instead.
• Rage Within the Machine: Horbovyi is one of the last remaining members of the Banderite old guard and fears how the organization has devolved into violence and apathy to the Ukrainian people.

Vasyl Kuk

Role: Regional Commander^note Security Minister (Klyachkivsky cabinet), Deputy Commander-in-Chief^note Head of Government (Shukhevych cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Klyachkivtsi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Klyachkivskyists (Klyachkivsky cabinet), Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Shukhevychi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Shukhevychists (Shukhevych cabinet)

Ideology: Military Junta^note Despotism

In-Game Biography (Regional Commander and Deputy Commander-in-Chief) ^{Click to Show}Years of bloody warfare have softened the heart of Vasyl Kuk. The once young and fierce commander of the UPA has become an old, stern partisan. The failures of the Permanent Revolution to unite Ukraine left Kuk a confused soul, and through age and experience, he wizened up to the true suffering of his people. The partisan general seeks nothing more to heal his nation, ideology be damned.

---

• Co-Dragons: After Klyachkivsky and Stetsko's elimination, Kuk is promoted by Shukhevych to co-ruler and forms a leading triumvirate, along with the Vozhd and Pozychanyuk.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Kuk doesn't have a lot of loyalty to the UPA's ideology. He (at least, on paper) fights for Ukraine and nothing more. It goes as far as to disillusion his loyalty to Bandera, considering him a dead man who has brought more death and suffering to Ukraine, a treasonous thought that even Shukhevych finds unnerving.
• Obliviously Evil: Despite abetting to their horrible actions, Kuk earnestly believes that the UPA is the only way Ukraine can heal.
• The Reliable One: Kuk is one of Shukhevych's most trustworthy men, as both can converse potentially treasonous ideas together without fear of the other ratting them out.
• Took a Level in Cynic: He used to be a sprite commander of the UPA until years of partisan warfare turned him into a stony, disillusioned old man.

Yosyp Pozychanyuk

Role: Head of the Political Department^note Foreign Minister (Shukhevych cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Shukhevychi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Shukhevychists

Ideology: Popular Front^note Progressivism

In-Game Biography (Head of the Political Department) ^{Click to Show}Yosyp Pozychanyuk is the leader of a rising movement within the UPA that has embraced reformist ideals to their fullest. As one of the earliest advocates for change, his influence grew among the demoralized troops of the UPA. While his ideas for a united front could be deemed extreme, or even treasonous, it matters not to Pozychanyuk. Victory against the Germans means radical action, even if it might be unthinkable.

---

• Anti-Villain: Pozychanyuk is a member of the UPA and abets their terrible actions, but he earnestly believes that it's necessary to create a strong and safe Ukraine, one where his children can grow and prosper in.
• Co-Dragons: He is recruited by Shukhevych to form a new leading triumvirate with Kuk, replacing the neutralized Klyachkivsky and Stetsko.
• Cooperation Gambit: Pozychanyuk heavily pushes Shukhevych to negotiate a united front with the Republicans and Communists, knowing that they will never truly be friends, but pointing out the greater threat in Germany.
• Even Evil Has Standards: As an ally to Shukhevych, Pozychanyuk wants Ukraine to seize Galicia back from Poland. However, he doesn't want to spill blood over the issue and argues to Shukhevych that they should try negotiating for it. Even if the invasion commences and optimally ends within three weeks, Pozychanyuk remains silent and does not share his comrades' celebration, still uncertain that it was worth it.
• Internal Reformist: Pozychanyuk leads a growing reformist movement within the UPA, pushing for the formation of a united front, which is considered an extreme, if not treasonous idea.
• Odd Friendship: Despite their different ideologies, Pozychanyuk is regarded as a close ally and friend to Shukhevych. Some UPA members are wary about this relationship and how committed Pozychanyuk is to the Vozhd's cause.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If Stetsko wins the fraternal coup but fails to conquer Galicia, Pozychanyuk is confirmed by Lebed to have escaped Ukraine, possibly getting help from Shukhevych sympathizers in Stetsko's recently crippled regime.

Rostyslav Voloshyn

Role: Vice Chief of Staff^note Security Minister (Shukhevych cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Shukhevychi^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Shukhevychists

Ideology: Social Nationalism^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography (Vice Chief of Staff) ^{Click to Show}Rostyslav Voloshyn is a commander of internal affairs for the UPA with close loyalty to Shukhevych and Pozychanyuk. His single desire is a peaceful Ukraine, free of foreign meddling and suffering, a land where his daughter may live in peace. Voloshyn was driven away by Klyachkivsky's violence, and now he puts his trust in his comrades that they may do better.

---

• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He supports Shukhevych and his fascist regime because he wants his daughter to live in a peaceful country free of foreign meddling and constant warfare.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Voloshyn may be a member of the UPA, but he was repulsed by Klyachkivsky's overt violence, so he entrusts Shukhevych to do better.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: His support for the UPA is horrible, but Voloshyn genuinely believes that they, specifically Shukhevych's clique, are the best bet to free Ukraine from foreign meddlers.

Stetsko Cabinet Members

Lev Rebet

Role: First Minister to the Vozhd^note Head of Government (Stetsko cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Stets'koity^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Stetskotists

Ideology: Social Nationalism^note Paternalism

In-Game Biography (First Minister to the Vozhd) ^{Click to Show}Lev Rebet is one of the last surviving members of Bandera's old guard. A skilled organizer and administrator got the religious Rebet a spot close to the young revolutionary. Rebet joined Stetsko's plot to collaborate with Germany, seeing it as the only way the UPA could ever truly gain lasting independence. He serves faithfully with a sorrowful smile and an aura of guilt. One can only wonder if Rebet is truly honest, to himself or to others.

---

• Beneath the Mask: Rebet thinks that the UPA can only be saved by collaborating with Germany, but he's privately guilty over what he's doing and has to delude himself that this is the right thing.
• Enemy Mine: With Stetsko mounting his own coup against Klyachkivsky, Rebet writes a letter to Shukhevych, pleading for help and playing on his pragmatism to stop the Vozhd's militarism before it destroys the UPA. Though Shukhevych knows that he and Stetsko will come to blows eventually, he accepts the temporary cooperation.
• The Face: While conspiring to overthrow Klyachkivsky, Rebet presents himself to Shukhevych as the plan's mastermind and mover. However, Shukhevych knows that Rebet is just the face for Stetsko's plot, who is the true rival to him and Klyachkivsky.

Dmytro Maivsky

Role: Head of the Foreign Office^note Foreign Minister (Stetsko cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Stets'koity^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Stetskotists

Ideology: Military Junta^note Despotism

In-Game Biography (Head of the Foreign Office) ^{Click to Show}Dmytro Maivskyi was a general of the UPA who had close ties to Stetsko from the old days of the OUN. His ability to sway others was invaluable in drawing much of the UPA's high command to ally with Stetsko for protection from Klyachkivsky and Lebed's purges. Maivsky now directs his talents to gaining international recognition for the Ukrainian state while keeping the underlings faithful to their cause.

---

• Dirty Coward: The only reason Maivsky joins Stetsko is because he fears being targeted by Klaychkivsky's purges, begging Stetsko to protect him.
• The Dragon: His role is near indispensable to Stetsko's regime, legitimizing it to the global community and ensuring that all of his minions are loyal to the UPA's cause.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Though Maivsky opposes Klyachkivsky, he is willing to integrate some of his less loyal minions. Stetsko does not share his mercy and has all of them executed, which unnerves Maivsky and makes him reconsider his opinion of the Vozhd.
• Guilt by Association: As Stetsko's hold on the UPA clamps down, Maivsky advises the integration of some of Klyachkivsky's less important minions. Unfortunately for him, this sympathy gets him targeted by the paranoid Stetsko and Maivsky is executed not long after.
• Heel Realization: In his last moments before his execution on Stetsko's orders, Maivsky regrets ever supporting the new Vozhd, considering Stetsko no less mad than Klyachkivsky.

Andriy Piasetsky

Role: Head of the Economic Office^note Economy Minister (Stetsko cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Stets'koity^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Stetskotists

Ideology: Paternalism

In-Game Biography (Head of the Economic Office) ^{Click to Show}Andriy Piasetsky is an oddity among Stetsko's administration. Originally responsible for forest management, his expertise was crucial for protecting the UPA from aerial scouts, and he soon found a friend in Stetsko. Piasetsky's promotion from managing forests to the economy as a whole has been seen as questionable. The forester seeks to prove his dissenters wrong, but fails to realize that his inadequacy is precisely why he is perfect.

---

• Asshole Victim: Piasetsky was a member of the UPA and an arrogant one at that, so it's not too sad when he gets purged by a victorious Shukhevych.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Piasetsky does a respectable job in managing the UPA's logistics, but Klyachkivsky pays no gratitude for it, frequently promoting his own cronies before him. Stetsko recognizes Piasetsky's frustration and persuades him to join his side so they can betray the Vozhd.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Piasetsky used to work in forest management, which turned out to be highly useful for the UPA when they needed protection from aerial scouts.
• Wrong Line of Work: Piasetsky has no business running an economy, which is exactly what Stetsko wants.

Mykola Lebed

Role: Chief of the Sluzhba Bezpeky^note Security Minister (Stetsko cabinet)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Stets'koity^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Stetskotists

Ideology: Naturalized National Socialism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography (Chief of the Sluzhba Bezpeky) ^{Click to Show}Mykola Lebed is the shadow master of the Sluzhba Bezpeky. As the man responsible for the OUN and UPA's secret police, it's Lebed's duty to root out all traitors to the Permanent Revolution. Lebed won Klyachkivsky's trust through his brutal and sadistic methods, which allowed his true association with Stetsko to go undetected. Stetsko's ambitions will be realized. There is no sacrifice too great for order and peace.

---

• Asshole Victim: Lebed is among those purged by a victorious Shukhevych, but his brutal actions will not elicit sympathy from anyone, a fact that the new Vozhd is well aware of.
• Ax-Crazy: Lebed derives a disturbing amount of enjoyment out of killing people. He murdered the Polish interior minister in 1934, carried out massacres against the Poles in Galicia and Volhynia, and personally tortures a deserter while commanding the SB OUN.
• Bearer of Bad News: Lebed gives Stetsko the bad news that Shukhevych is also plotting against Klyachkivsky. This raises a lot of alarms for Stetsko because Shukhevych is a charismatic and intelligent politician, who could pose a serious threat to him.
• Death by Irony: He was a chief executioner for the UPA, who personally killed many deserters and traitors to Klyachkivsky, so there's a bit of irony when he "disappears" in Shukhevych's purge.
• Order Is Not Good: Stetsko employs Lebed to keep the peace in Ukraine, which means surveilling and suppressing the people of any dissident thoughts.
• Sadist: When he catches an OUN deserter and finds Melnykite propaganda on him, Lebed sadistically smirks before torturing him to death.
• Secret Police: Lebed is the chief of the Sluzhba Bezpeky, dedicated to spying and rooting out any "traitors" to the Permanent Revolution.

Slava Stetsko

Role: Head of the Foreign Office^note Foreign Minister (Stetsko cabinet - Maivsky purged)

Party: Ukrayins'ka Povstans'ka Armiya - Stets'koity^note Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Stetskotists

Ideology: Naturalized National Socialism^note National Socialism

In-Game Biography (Head of the Foreign Office) ^{Click to Show}They say behind every great man is a great woman, and Slava Stetsko certainly sees herself as such. Having married Yaroslav during the long resistance against the Reichskommisariat, Slava has dedicated her life to supporting her husband and the nationalist cause from behind the scenes.

Now, however, she has a chance to take the spotlight, to become the mother of the revived nation. Whilst Yaroslav's infertility has rendered her childless, she will be the model Ukrainian woman, and every girl will aspire to follow her example.

---

• Behind Every Great Man: Slava is married to Yaroslav, working behind the scenes and seeing herself as the reason why her husband is so poised to take over Ukraine in the first place.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She's happily married to Yaroslav, preparing his meals at home and reciprocating his physical affection.
• Nepotism: After Maivsky's death, Yaroslav's first pick as his successor is Slava, his own wife.
• Uncertain Doom: After Yaroslav's execution in the failed fraternal coup, Klyachkivsky turns his attention to Slava and orders her to be found, intending to punish her next. It's not clarified if Slava managed to escape or got caught and almost certainly killed.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Despite her infertility, Slava is touted by her husband as a model for other women to aspire to.

Other Important People

Yuriy Shukhevych

Role: N/A

---

• Be Careful What You Wish For: Wishing to prove himself, Yuriy tries to volunteer for Roman's invasion of Poland, even though the rest of the Shukhevych family thinks it's a bad idea. If his wish is granted, Yuriy isn't even put in the most heavily fought fronts and still is traumatized by the horrors and destruction he sees.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Yuriy is a member of the UPA, but he admires and looks up to his father.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Contrary to his early optimism of invading Poland, if allowed to volunteer, Yuriy is appalled at the destruction and cries he witnesses. Visiting a field hospital and seeing all the gore makes Yuriy seriously reconsider if the invasion was worth it.
  • Roman's potential usage of death squads to liquidate the Polish population in Galicia horrifies Yuriy, who joins the rest of his family in condemning the war crimes.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: If war is waged against Poland, Yuriy will try to volunteer for the army, claiming that people younger than him have fought already and he wants to prove that he can aid the UPA's cause. Though the rest of Shukhevych's family is horrified at the notion, he may join, at Roman's discretion.
• Undying Loyalty: Even on some occasions where Roman is about to perish, Yuriy will stick by his father's side to the bitter end.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: His bravado and eagerness to join the Galician War is because he wants to impress his father. However, Yuriy can lose this attention-seeking attitude if his father employs death squads in the conflict and loses all respectability.

Gotenland

Reichsgau Gotenland

Official Name: Reichsgau Gotenland

Ruling Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

The territory of Crimea and Southern Ukraine, annexed by the Reich as a Reichsgau.

---

• Curb-Stomp Battle: Due to lack of support from Germania, Gotenland is guaranteed to lose when invaded by any native Ukrainian faction.
• Fair-Weather Friend: Gotenland can reject Ohlendorf's request for their help, wanting to commit to their own defenses. Ohlendorf is not pleased with the development.
• Meaningful Rename: Under German rule, Crimea was renamed Gotenland (Gothland) and its capital city Sevastopol was renamed Theodoricshafen (after the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great), a reference to how Crimea was the last holdout of the Goths (who got assimilated and ceased to exist as a distinct people elsewhere) and is now an integral part of the Reich.
• Please Select New City Name: Cities in Gotenland that have been christened with new names include Sevastopol (Theodoricshafen), Simferopol (Gotenburg), Kerch (Schreckstadt), Melitopol (Ost-Berlin), Kalanchak (Richthofen) and Yevpatoria (9. November Stadt).
• Satellite Character: As a Reichsgau, Gotenland is formally annexed into Germany, only released as a separate entity after Hitler's death and the ensuing power struggle. Gotenland's only role in the Ukrainian Civil War is to optionally give supplies to the Reichskommissariat; otherwise, it sits and does nothing, until it is reintegrated into Germany or invaded by a non-German faction in Ukraine.
• Team Switzerland: In the Ukrainian Civil War, Gotenland will remain neutral, aside from potentially sending support to the RK, before being invaded if any native faction wins.

Franz Maierhofer

Role: Gauleiter of Gotenland^note Head of State

Party: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei^note National Socialist German Workers' Party

Ideology: National Socialism

In-Game Biography ^{Click to Show}As the Slavic people advance in all directions, Franz Maierhofer cannot help but remember the Battle of Lipetsk. It was in that battle that Maierhofer was nearly left to bleed out, his torso pierced by rifle fire. In that moment, he felt a true despair, something that would take a decade to fully numb.

It's coming back now.

Maierhofer recovered from that day, to be certain. Back at home, Maierhofer was rewarded a Knight's Cross and a respectable post in Crimea - with another decade, he crawled back up to the rank of Gauleiter. But that bullet is still between layers of flesh in his torso, and at times he can feel it, an alien body trapped within him.

The post of Gauleiter has, until now, not been especially strenuous. With colonization dealt with by better men, Maierhofer has spent his time in Crimea doing what he does best - ideological puffery, the bread and butter of the Crimean colonizer clade. The Gauleiter expected his work to be simple, coasting off a thousand-year Reich.

Now, he stands with whatever men he can muster upon the Dnipro, and prays.

---

• Prayer Is a Last Resort: His comfort in the Gauleiter position has come crashing down in the Ukrainian Civil War. He now desperately prays for a god to save him from partisan retribution.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Maierhofer almost died during the Battle of Lipetsk in WW2, feeling the utmost despair during the experience and taking almost a decade for him to recover. With the advent of the Ukrainian civil war, he feels that despair returning to him once more.
• War Hero: For his role in the Battle of Lipetsk, Maierhofer was rewarded a Knight's Cross and a position in Crimea, up to becoming a Gauleiter a decade later.

Post-Civil War Resistance Groups

Ukrainian People's Revolutionary Army

• Enemy Mine: In a UPA victory scenario, Borovets and Shandruk set aside their past enmity to oppose the greater threat, leading different groups of the UPRA.
• La Résistance: The UPRA represent the influential partisan figures who still offer resistance against the UPA or the U-SSR, if either faction wins the civil war:
  • In the former case, there is a western group led by Borovets, a southern group led by Shandruk, and an eastern group led by a mysterious figure.
  • In the latter case, Borovets leads the UPRA as a whole.
• The Remnant: Though Horlis is dead or gone if the UPA or the U-SSR wins, his followers reorganize into the UPRA and persist as a domestic threat to the new masters of Ukraine (though fighting them in a significant manner has yet to be implemented in-game).

Miscellaneous Characters

The Van Nordens

Pieter Van Norden

Role: N/A

---

• Abusive Parents: The Reich has high expectations from his offspring, which is why he is so distant to his son. Whenever Markus cries, Pieter is unsympathetic and just feels embarrassed that he might not be strong enough to serve Germany.
• Allegorical Character: Having a long history of collaborating with the Reich and accepting an offer to live in Ukraine, Pieter represents the loyal settlers who benefit from Koch's regime and are desperate to meet their standards of a model citizen.
• Blind Obedience: Pieter accepts Germany's orders without question, including the lonely settlement of Ukraine.
• Les Collaborateurs: Pieter Van Norden is a Dutch man who has been bombarded with pro-Nazi propaganda throughout his life, turning him into a loyal Wehrmacht soldier of theirs. His fluency in German helped him stay in their good graces and he's since been ordered to settle Ukraine.
• Detrimental Determination: Pieter insists that he can still fight against the growing partisan threat, even though he's grown old since his days as a soldier and clearly no longer has the good aim he used to have. He refuses to leave Ukraine and save his family out of stubborn pride that he needs to prove his right to live, according to National Socialism; otherwise, he would be considered weak and thus undeserving of what he currently has.
• Due to the Dead: He earnestly thinks that Koch is a good man and mourns him when he nearly perishes in a car bombing.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Much as he despises the Ukrainians, Pieter will swallow his racism during a UNRA victory, offering to cooperate and vote for the Spivators in exchange for protection. As far as he's concerned, Germany will come back to Ukraine and destroy them; he just has to bide his time for now.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Played With. He is ethnically Dutch, but still regarded as an Aryan by both the state and himself. As a citizen of the Reich, Pieter will obey a German officer's commands, no matter what. When he's ordered to evacuate his family during the civil war, Pieter is annoyed that he can't fight, but does not refuse the command.
• The Paranoiac: In spite of the Reichskommissariat potentially winning the war and seeing his house's belongings intact, Pieter demands that every possession in his house be removed, after he sees a name etched on a carved eagle.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: A given for being a Nazi, as he believes the Ukrainian partisans are "Judeo-Bolshevik". When he forgets to bring his medals during the evacuation, the thought that angers him most is the partisans raiding his house and wearing his medals, thinking it unfit for "Ukrainian barbarians".
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Pieter completely panics if the UPA wins the civil war, sternly telling his son to stay quiet and packing his family into the Volkswagen so they can sneak into Ostland and back into Prussia.
• Small Name, Big Ego: When the partisans reemerge, Pieter pulls out his old rifle and starts training to defend his property. In practice, his aim has gotten much worse now and his wife begs him to evacuate the family out of Ukraine, but Pieter refuses under the delusion that he can still fight and would deserve nothing, if he betrayed his duty to the Reich. Even the German officers recognize that he's not combat-ready and force him to evacuate his family to Kiew, much to his chagrin.
• Undying Loyalty: His loyalty to the NSDAP regime is absolute. He served as a soldier before he was shot in the shoulder, but he's eagerly accepted his new duty to settle Ukraine.

Antonia Van Norden

Role: N/A

---

• Old Flame: Antonia was an old flame to Pieter when they were in secondary school, getting married and moving to Kiew together.
• Stepford Smiler: Antonia acts as the perfect, cheerful housewife to Pieter, but she's slowly starting to lose it to Ukraine. Her hair is growing faded and frizzy, her eyes are developing bags, and she's losing the ideal "feminine" body the longer she works in the field. She's horrified by how fast she's deteriorating and prays that her family won't notice her dissatisfaction.

Markus Van Norden

Role: N/A

---

• Children Are Innocent: His parents worry about his future, with Antonia fearing that he'll grow up friendless and Pieter worrying that he won't fit the Reich's model for an ideal man. Markus is completely oblivious to his parents' feelings and lives his childhood in blissful ignorance.
• Friend to Bugs: While his parents argue over finances, Markus feels a strong connection to the insects that surround him, imagining the environment to be his kingdom.
• Stepford Smiler: Markus tries to remain optimistic during the civil war and even smiles when his mother promises to take him to the Netherlands one day. However, Antonia can see that he's forcing a smile, perhaps knowing that his mother is lying to him for the sake of downplaying their current predicament.
• The Stoic: He's mindlessly obedient, quiet, and rarely shows emotion, a sign that Antonia fears and interprets as him becoming sullen.

The Nosenkos

Danylo Nosenko

Role: N/A

---

• Allegorical Character: Danylo is an original character who represents the average citizen living in Ukraine and only concerned with survival, neither loyal to the regime like Pieter or actively resisting it like Bohdan and Kyi.
• Cowardly Lion: He's not a bad man, but Danylo is too afraid to firmly stand against the Germans, as he was once sent to a concentration camp and subject to its horrors, until an old collaborator friend bailed him out. From that point onward, Danylo swore to always lay low.
• The Cynic: When the Ukrainian Civil War starts and his town is liberated by the UNRA, Danylo doesn't join his wife in celebration and stays in his bedroom, fearing that their cause would be in vain. He doesn't even have high hopes if the U-SSR wins the civil war, remembering what life was like under the Soviet and expecting little to change with their reign.
• He's Back!: At Halyna's insistence during the civil war, Danylo writes a poem outside, where he can see his house and wide fields. The new perspective and recent conflict inspires some level of optimism back into Danylo, who writes at a speed he hasn't done in years and makes the first step towards emotional healing.
• Heavy Sleeper: He's a heavy sleeper, which allows Halyna to sneak out of the house at night to aid the resistance.
• The Illegible: Downplayed. His only notable "chicken scratch" is his messy signature. Halyna can only identify it, based on the terrible handwriting alone.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When a partisan fleeing from the police begs for residence in his house, Danylo keeps the door locked and tells him to leave. Later that day, Danylo feels guilty for his lack of charity, praying to ease his guilt and for the well-being of the young man.
• Persecuted Intellectuals: Danylo writes a beautiful poem describing the tragedy of Ukraine, but he chooses not to publish it because the Reich is unfriendly to artists who don't pay lip service to them.
• Took a Level in Idealism: The partisan uprising in the civil war rekindles some optimism back into Danylo, which is amplified when he writes a poem outside and thinks about how the field he sees can recover from German colonization. The personality change becomes official, if the UNRA wins, where he starts to campaign for Dziuba in the upcoming elections, in contrast to his old apoliticism.
• When He Smiles: When the UNRA wins, Danylo becomes a lot more idealistic and expressive, something that warms Halyna's heart.

Halyna Nosenko

Role: N/A

---

• Beneath the Mask: She feigns subservience to the Nazi regime, but she privately hates them with every fiber of her being. Hearing a German marching tune is enough to ruin her whole day and the only reason why she doesn't openly resist them is because Danylo doesn't want to and she can't bear the thought of him becoming a widower.
• Honor Before Reason: Opposing the Nazis means risking death and supporting the civil war means that she and Danylo will need to suffer through the food shortages. Despite this, Halyna does not regret her resistance, unwilling to abide by the Nazis' evils. Even when the UNRA wins the civil war, she's still willing to stand up to the greater German odds by supporting Stus' election.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Halyna is stunned if the Reichskommissariat wins the civil war and she strongly considers urging her fellow townspeople to continue the fight. However, she realizes that it's a losing battle at this point and she can only return to her hovel in defeat.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Unlike her husband, Halyna plays a more active role in opposing the Germans, sneaking out at night and evading patrols to deliver supplies to the partisans.

Resistance Fighters

Bohdan Antonenko

Role: N/A

---

• Be Careful What You Wish For: Bohdan has long prepared for war against the Reichskommissariat, but when it actually comes from an indirect consequence of his assassination attempt, Bohdan has no idea what to actually do, since all of his comrades are dead by this point.
• Beneath the Mask: Secretly, Bohdan is afraid to enter the Ukrainian cities. In some events, Bohdan is intimidated by how culturally Germanized they've become and only goes to Kiew because he needs to finalize a secret deal for medicine from a contact.
• Chekhov's Gunman: At first, he just seems to be a minor flavor character only meant to provide a perspective for the resistance. However, his importance to the story skyrockets when he transmits information of Koch's planned vacation to East Prussia and assists the assassination attempt on him. This sends Koch into a coma and radically alters the storyline from this point onward.
• Do Not Go Gentle: Bohdan considers himself doomed if the Reichskommissariat wins the civil war, but he affirms that he will take down at least three Germans before he meets his end.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: He briefly earns the apprehension of his comrades when they see him eating little and rarely speaking with the others, initially drawing suspicions that he's not committed to Ukraine's liberation.
• Important Haircut: If the UPA wins the civil war, Bohdan goes to a river to shave his face and cut his hair, making himself unrecognizable and assuming a new life under the regime as "Artem".
• It Never Gets Any Easier: Inverted. Bohdan has always been willing to kill a German, albeit for different reasons across his lifetime. For his first kill, he remembers it as an exciting affair. During the civil war, Bohdan does it with complete apathy, ambushing a lone German conscript and scavenging his body without a second thought.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Despite being a communist partisan, all he wants is for the Nazis to be driven out of Ukraine. He doesn't consider himself strongly aligned with the U-SSR, which is why he doesn't bother returning to them, after his cell gets wiped out.
• Nothing but Skin and Bones: When the UNRA wins the civil war and captures Bohdan, he's as skinny as a scarecrow, after surviving years on the run and with minimal food.
• Older Than They Look: He's relatively young, yet his patchy beard and shaggy hair makes him look much older than he really is.
• Serendipitous Survival: Bohdan's assassination attempt on Koch spared him from the Nazis' attack on his resistance cell's bunker, which slaughtered all of his comrades. Given the tragedy, he isn't sure if he should count himself lucky or unlucky.
• Sole Survivor: He's the only member of his cell not to be present at their base when it is attacked by the Germans, making him the sole survivor of the group.
• Starting a New Life: Knowing the strong anti-communist beliefs of the UPA, Bohdan needs to cast a new identity, if they win the civil war, so he cuts his hair, buries his U-SSR patches, and assumes a new name "Artem" to work as a farm hand.
• Surprisingly Normal Backstory: Following his assassination attempt of Koch, Bohdan becomes exaggerated as either a conniving boogeyman for the Germans or a young partisan who got in way over his head. If the UNRA wins, Bohdan turns himself in and the police officers sound a little disappointed that he's more average than they expected.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After days of traveling on an empty stomach and seeing his entire resistance cell dead, Bohdan finally catches a good meal when he steals some tomatoes from a German residence. When he takes a bite of one, he thinks it's the best tomato he's ever had.
• Took a Level in Cynic: What little optimism Bohdan had is shattered after his assassination attempt on Koch and the slaughter of his partisan cell. All alone, Bohdan feels that his mission has lost all purpose and spends the early stage of the civil war, scavenging to survive the next day and unwilling to fight for one of the major partisan factions. This can worsen if the Reichskommissariat wins, where he considers himself a doomed man.
• Uncertain Doom:
  • Things aren't looking good for him in the Reichskommissariat victory scenario. Starving and with a bad leg, Bohdan knows that, if he isn't killed by the Germans, starvation or a broken leg might claim him. He figures that he'll die by the end of the year and resolves to kill at least three more Germans before expiring; the last thing he's seen doing is picking up his rifle, but what happens next is yet to be revealed.
  • If the UNRA wins the civil war, Bohdan turns himself in, considering prison an upgrade over a life of hiding in the forests. His jailers mention that he could be executed, but Bohdan doesn't care and just wants to sleep, leaving his fate ambiguous.
• Unscrupulous Hero: Bohdan fights against the German regime, but he's also willing to let innocent Ukrainian civilians get killed in the crossfire.
• War Hero: If the U-SSR wins the civil war, Bohdan is found by them and welcomed back to civilization as a hero, still thankful for his attempted assassination attempt on Koch.
• What Is This Feeling?: Bohdan is a resistance fighter, but when the Wehrmacht mobilizes for civil war, his hands quiver in fear, a feeling that unnerves him and leaves him wondering what to do.
• Your Days Are Numbered: If the Reichskommissariat wins the civil war, Bohdan considers himself a dead man. He's either going to be captured by the Germans and almost certainly be executed or give out from his hunger pangs and bad leg.

Kyi

Role: N/A

---

• Heroic Bystander: While he was just trying to buy a loaf of bread, Kyi witnesses a girl being harassed by a group of Hitler Youth thugs, so Kyi throws a rock at the biggest guy he sees, risking his own life to save the woman. Fortunately, he escapes and hides before he gets caught.
• Missing Mom: Kyi never knew his mother and it isn't until his servitude to the Germans waivers that he starts asking questions. Sadly, he learns that his mother was tortured, raped, and murdered by German soldiers, which gives him further inspiration to join the fight against them.
• What Is This Feeling?: After saving a woman from Hitler Youth bullies and reading up on his country's history, Kyi considers joining the resistance and discovering a feeling he hasn't felt in forever: hope

---