The idea proved to be popular among Ukrainian peasants, and in 1914 the Union of Milk Cooperatives united more than 100 unions under the leadership of Ostap Nyzhankivskyi. Soon the Union started to issue its own newspaper, which received the name 'Samopomich'. The WWI and the following Polish-Ukrainian war interrupted the movement, as its activists devoted themselves to the work for the West Ukrainian People's Republic. The leader of the movement, Ostap Nyzhankivskyi, became the district commissar of Stryi and died in the battle for the city on 13 May 1919.