Finally breakthrough - Tusk announces first decisions on exhumation of Polish victims of Volyn tragedy
On Friday, January 10, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the first decisions on the exhumation of Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy.
He wrote about this on the social network X, Censor.NET reports.
The head of the Polish government thanked the ministers of culture of Poland and Ukraine "for fruitful cooperation" and expressed hope for further decisions.
"Finally, a breakthrough. A decision has been made on the first exhumations of Polish victims of the UIA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army). I would like to thank the ministers of culture of Poland and Ukraine for their fruitful cooperation. We look forward to further decisions," Tusk wrote.
As a reminder, Ukraine's Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar recently stated that Ukraine and Poland are engaged in a "constructive historical dialogue" to resolve the issue of exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy. Progress has already been made in this regard.
The issue of exhumation of victims of the Volyn tragedy
As reported, in September, the Polish Foreign Ministry said that without resolving the issue of exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy, Ukraine cannot dream of joining the EU. At the same time, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that attempts to block Ukraine's accession to the European Union play into the hands of Vladimir Putin's policy.
During his visit to Warsaw on October 1, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Ukraine is ready to discuss with Poland controversial issues of common history, including the Volyn tragedy of 1943-1944.
On October 2, the UINR stated that they plan to conduct search operations for the victims of the Volyn tragedy in 2025. The Institute also stated that it remains open to cooperation with Polish institutions in the field of searching, preserving and caring for the places of memory of Ukrainians in Poland and Poles in Ukraine, and complained that official inter-institutional mechanisms for resolving problematic issues with the Polish side in the restoration and preservation of places of memory have not been in place for a long time.
Drobovych believes that Ukrainian and Polish officials need to finally move to constructive action "in the problematic issues of exhumation and burials" and proposed a "road map".
On October 4, Poland's Defense Minister reiterated his intention to block Ukraine's accession to the EU until the issue of exhumation and commemoration of the victims of the Volyn tragedy is resolved.
On 26 November, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, after a conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha, said that Kyiv had assured him that there were no obstacles to the search and exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy in Ukraine.
