Battle of Old Fort Wayne

The President of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile (Ukrainian: Президент УНР в екзилі) was an official position of the Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile after World War II. The post was created out of the "Chairman of the Directorate of Ukraine".

History

Ukrainian People's Republic

On July 10, 1948 there was adopted a "Provisional law about the reorganisation of the State Center of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile" which was coordinated between various Ukrainian political organizations. Andriy Livytskyi, who was a chairman of the Directorate of Ukraine, was confirmed by the Ukrainian National Council as the President of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile. From 1948 to 1992 there were four presidents of UNR in exile. On March 15, 1992 an extraordinary session of the Ukrainian National Council adopted a resolution "About handing over authority of the State Center of UNR in exile to the state power in Kyiv and termination of work of the State Center of UNR in exile". The last president Mykola Plaviuk officially handed over his presidential powers to the newly elected President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk on August 22, 1992.^[1]

Under the 1948 law, the president was to be elected or confirmed by the Ukrainian National Council. He had a right to participate in sessions of the Ukrainian National Council and its presidium, represent the State Center of UNR in exile in foreign relationships, appoint a head of government and, on the recommendations of that head of government, members of the government. In exceptional cases the President could dissolve the Ukrainian National Council on the proposal of the government. The government of UNR was responsible and accountable to both the President as well as the council. All presidents except the last one held the title for the rest of their lives.

The UNR in exile also had a position of a vice-president.

Russian invasion

In March 2022, the United States national security officials had discussed plans to establish Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government-in-exile in the event the national capital Kyiv fell to Russian forces and a puppet regime instituted. Instead, President Zelenskyy publicly vowed to remain in Ukraine and lead resistance against Russian forces.^[2] Ultimately, the Russian forces were unable to take Kyiv due to persistent logistical problems and strong Ukrainian resistance, thereby eliminating the need to establish a government-in-exile.

List of presidents

USDLP UNDA UNSU OUN Independent / Non-partisan

#		Elected (event)	Took office	Left office
1	Andriy Livytskyi (1879–1954) Андрій Лівицький	Augsburg	10 July 1948	17 January 1954	assumed office after being the Chairman of Directorate (1926–1948)
2	Stepan Vytvytskyi (1884–1965) Степан Витвицький	Munich	March 1954	9 October 1965
3	Mykola Livytskyi (1907–1989) Микола Лівицький	Munich	22 March 1967	8 December 1989
4	Mykola Plaviuk^[3] (1925–2012) Микола Плав'юк		8 December 1989	22 August 1992	handed over his presidential powers to Leonid Kravchuk (President of Ukraine)^[1]