Born in Hermaniv, Austria-Hungary Empire (present day – Tarasivka, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine) in the Ukrainian peasant family of Hryhoriy, who was a church cantor, and Horpyna in 1891.
He was ordained a priest on 21 February 1915 by Bishop Lazar Mladenov for the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Lviv.
[1] He was appointed by the Holy See as auxiliary bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Lviv on 16 September 1929.
At the end of the Second World War, Buchko organized the escape of the entire Waffen-SS Galitsia Division to South and North America.
[2] Also with his blessing were hiding in the Ukrainian Pontifical College of Saint Josaphat in Rome from the Nazi persecution some members of the Italian resistance movement.