During World War II, the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists underwent a significant change in political position as a result of the sudden influx of members who sought independence while lacking the far-right ideology the group had previously held.

This change was formalised by the Third Supreme Assembly in August 1943, which formally declared that the wing of the OUN loyal to Stepan Bandera would reject integral nationalism and collaboration with Nazi Germany in favour of democracy and a welfare state.

There, he claimed that the NVRO had been deliberately created by him on the orders of UPA leader Roman Shukhevych, alongside local commander Rostyslav Voloshyn [uk].

The Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (UHVR), an explicitly non-partisan body operating in territories which remained under German occupation, was simultaneously issuing edicts under its own name.

The NVRO's founding resolution called for a world revolution among the working classes of minor countries in Europe and Asia aimed at stopping imperialism.

[10] In terms of societal issues in western Ukraine, the NVRO also took a left-wing stance, calling for the seizure of all lands belonging to the Roman and Ukrainian Greek Catholic churches, as well as landlords, and their transfer to the peasantry.