Revolutionary Velko Popadiyski

Velko Apostolov, known as Popadiyski or Popadichanets, was born in 1877 or 1886 in Popadiya village, then in the Ottoman Empire and now in North Macedonia. He joined the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO) and served under the voivodes Stefan Dimitrov and Pancho Konstantinov.

After the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising ended in 1906, Apostolov became chief voivode in the Veles region because there was no district voivode. He actively participated in the Battle of Nozhot in 1907, one of the epic events in the history of the Macedonian liberation movement.

In 1908, Apostolov died in Skachintsi village with two members of his detachment after being betrayed by pro-Serbian activists. According to various sources, he and Milan the Snake were discovered by a Turkish gendarme and killed after a shootout in Veles.

Velko Apostolov is remembered as a committed revolutionary who fought with great determination for the Macedonian people's freedom.