In 2016, we published Paul Goble’s article “When Ukrainians came to the aid of Finland against the USSR: recalled and celebrated.” Based on a report on a small Ukrainian website, it tells the story of legendary Ukrainian ataman Yuriy Gorlis-Gorsky who was said to create a Ukrainian battalion to help the Finns fight off the Soviet invasion. However, the story appears to be a myth. In 2019, Ukrainian historian Ivan Homeniuk penned a piece at the website of Likbez, a website dedicated to historical literacy, disproving the legend of Gorlis-Gorsky: there simply is no proof for the existence of this battalion.
OP-ED
EuroMaidan Press: Did Ukrainians really help Finland in the Winter War?
Soviet artillery men prepare to fire on Finnish position at Hanko peninsula during the Finnish-Russian war 1939-1940. The Finnish-Russian war called also Winter War (Nov. 30, 1939 - March 12, 1940), was a war waged by the Soviet Union against Finland at the beginning of World War II, following the conclusion of the German-Soviet Non Aggression Pact (August 23, 1939). After Finland had refused to grant the Soviets a naval base and other concessions in the fall of 1939, Soviet troops totaling about one million men attacked Finland on several fronts. In the peace treaty signed March 12, 1940, Finland ceded part of the Karelian Isthmus, Vyborg (Viipuri), and several border territories to the USSR. In June, 1941, warfare was resumed between Finland and Russia and became part of the general world conflagration.
