Vasyl Chuchupak

Vasyl Stepanovych Chuchupak (Ukrainian: Василь Степанович Чучупак) (11 March 1895 - 12 April 1920) was the leader of the Kholodny Yar Ukrainian partisan movement during the Ukrainian War of Independence.

Chuchupak's grave in the cemetery of Melnyky

Born in 1895 in the village Melnyky in the Chyhyryn region, Chuchupak served in the Imperial Russian Army and was a village teacher.

Chuchupak was the leader (Otaman) of the Kholodny Yar Ukrainian partisan movement during the Ukrainian War of Independence. In current Chyhyryn Raion this movement formed the Kholodny Yar Republic that lasted from 1919 to 1922 were they fought for Ukrainian independence and against the Soviet Union. The republic included 25 villages (with Melnyky serving as its “capital”) and could raise an army of 16 thousand. It was the last territory held by supporters of an independent Ukrainian state before the incorporating of Ukraine into the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian SSR.

Chuchupak shot and killed himself on 12 April 1920 in fight with squadron of red cossacks.

In the 21st century the Kholodny Republic flag was used during the Euromaidan demonstrations and by the Azov Battalion.