The Polesian Sich was founded in response to German atrocities, and though it was initially loyal to Melnyk, it was later coopted by Banderites and transformed into the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
On 21 August 1943 members of the OUN loyal to Bandera gathered in the village of Zolota Sloboda (Polish: Słoboda Złota), which was under the control of the Germans' General Government.
The ideologically-rigid supporters of integral nationalism and Bandera found themselves faced by the UPA's loyalists and younger OUN(B) members, who saw the independence of Ukraine as more important than taking specific political positions.
The Volhynian clique's support for a guerrilla war, with the belief that capturing all of Ukraine would leave the Red Army significantly weakened, proved dominant.
They were opposed by a more minor group of attendees (led by Lebed and Stepaniak), who believed that by fighting the Germans and subsequently emigrating they would demonstrate to the world the Ukrainian desire for statehood, feeling that any struggle against the Soviets was hopeless.
Specific appeals were made to the peasantry of central and eastern Ukraine, offering land reform, decollectivisation, removal of landowners and an end to the Soviet system of commissars.
[8] Dontsov's beliefs, previously the basis of the OUN's ideology, were subject to constant criticism throughout the Supreme Assembly, and letters he sent proposing policy were ignored.
[3] While the Supreme Assembly was underway, massacres of Poles led by Volhynian clique member Dmytro Klyachkivsky were continuing unabated.
This nonetheless inspired a sense of confidence in the UPA among locals, and led their ranks to further swell once the Soviets returned to Eastern Galicia and Volhynia.