Kushnir was born on September 17, 1893, in Vikno, West Ukraine, and finished his high school education in Ternopil and Lviv.

He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Italian front during World War I and spent three years in captivity.

After passing via Odesa, he joined the Red Army and served in Vinnytsia and Kharkiv before fleeing to his hometown.

[3] The customary Zeleni Svyata memorial service for fallen warriors, started in 1936 by Kushnir.

Kushnir oversaw UCC efforts to assist Canada's government in the early post-World War II repatriation of over 40,000 anti-Soviet Ukrainian émigrés.

[2] He was particularly eager to support and encourage the official initiative to receive veterans of the Waffen SS Galicia.