Dmytro Klyachkivsky

Dmytro Klyachkivsky
Dmytro Klyachkivsky
Born	(1911-11-04)4 November 1911 Zbarazh, Galicia, Austria-Hungary
Died	12 February 1945(1945-02-12) (aged 33) Orzhiv near Rivne
Cause of death	Killed in action
Nationality	Ukrainian
Other names	Klym Savur, Okhrim, Bilash
Organization	Ukrainian Insurgent Army
Political party	Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists

Dmytro Klyachkivsky (Ukrainian: Клячківський Дмитро (Роман); 4 November 1911 - 12 February 1945), also known by his pseudonyms Klym Savur, Okhrim, and Bilash, was a commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), first head-commander of the UPA-North. He was responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Poles from Volhynia.

Klyachkivsky was born on 4 November 1911 in the city of Zbarazh, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine) as a son of a bank clerk. He completed his secondary studies and entered the Law faculty of the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwow. A member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), he served in the Polish army and worked in the service sector in Stanisławów from 1934 until 1939 as chair of a committee of the Ukrainian sport organization Sokil in Zbarazh.

After joint Nazi and Soviet attack on Poland, Eastern Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union (see Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union). Klyachkivsky was arrested by the Soviets (NKVD) in Lviv, and sentenced to death which was commuted to 10 years incarceration. He escaped from the Berdychiv Prison in July 1941.

He was a member of the Directorate of the OUN in Lviv, the regional leader of OUN from January 1942, a member of the leadership of OUN and the first commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army from 1943. He was given the rank of Major and made the regional commander of UIA-North in 1944.