Ukraine and Poland exchange lists of places of search and exhumation of victims of Volyn tragedy - Ministry of Culture
Ukraine and Poland have exchanged lists of places to search for and exhume the remains of mutual historical conflicts. Kyiv is committed to "positive decisions" on this issue.
This was announced in a comment to PAP by Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine for European Integration Andrii Nadzhos, Censor.NET reports.
He heads the Polish-Ukrainian working group on historical issues on the Ukrainian side.
Najos assured of positive intentions to resolve disputes related to this topic.
Kyiv is interested in positive solutions to this issue. We are positive about reaching good solutions that will satisfy Polish and Ukrainian society," he said.
According to him, Ukraine views Poland as a very important strategic partner.
"We have made a very important first step: we have exchanged requests from the Polish side to carry out work on the territory of Ukraine, and the Polish side has received requests from us to carry out our work on the territory of Poland. We are currently analyzing these findings and collecting documents to make positive decisions and publicly comment on the results of such work with the consent of both parties," Nadzhos emphasized.
Another Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told PAP that Ukraine had authorized the search for remains at the site where the Polish graves were discovered in 2023.
"In Ukraine, in accordance with Ukrainian law, a permit was issued for the exhumation of the remains found during the search operations in 2023," the source told PAP.
The official, who was asked by the Polish media outlet, did not name the place where the remains of the Poles were found.
However, in 2023, the then-Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited Puznyky in the Ternopil region, where Polish and Ukrainian experts found a collective pit in which the bodies of the murdered villagers were laid in 1945.
According to the PAP interlocutor, "the issue of restoring the names of Ukrainians (members of the UPA) on the tombstone on Mount Monastyr (in Poland) is still open."
The official's statement implies that permits for searches and exhumations on the territory of Ukraine will be issued separately for each burial site.
"There is a Ukrainian law according to which permits to carry out work in specific places are and will be issued after consideration of properly formulated, necessary documents by enterprises that have the right to carry out the relevant work," he said.
Earlier, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a "breakthrough " regarding the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy.
The issue of exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy
As reported, in September, the Polish Foreign Ministry said that without resolving the issue of the 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 UINP 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.
Drobovich 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 , the Polish Defense Minister reaffirmed 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 November 26, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, after speaking 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.
