Exhumations on both sides of the border: Ukraine and Poland exchanged lists of sites

Ukraine and Poland exchanged lists of places to search for and exhume the remains of “mutual historical conflicts”, Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine for European Integration Andriy Najos told the PAP agency, writes UNN.

There is a solution: Tusk announced a “breakthrough” regarding the exhumations of the victims of the Volyn tragedy10.01.25, 19:06 • 25507 views

Najos, who heads the Polish-Ukrainian working group on historical issues from the Ukrainian side, assured on Saturday of positive intentions to resolve disputes related to this topic.

“We are confident of reaching good solutions that will satisfy Polish and Ukrainian society,” he said.

Deputy Minister Najos said in an interview with PAP that Ukraine perceives Poland as a very important strategic partner.

“We are aware of what Polish society lives in, just as Polish society understands the needs of Ukrainian society. We understand that issues of historical memory are important for Polish society, and we do not want to politicize it. (…) Therefore, according to the agreement between the leaders of both countries (…) bilateral groups have started work,” he said.

“We took a very important first step: we exchanged requests from the Polish side to carry out work on the territory of Ukraine, and the Polish side received requests from us to carry out our work on the territory of Poland. Currently, these requests are analyzed and documents are collected in order to make positive decisions and publicly to comment on the results of such works with the consent of both parties,” Najos emphasized.

Another Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told PAP that Ukraine had given permission to search for remains at the site where Polish burials were discovered in 2023. “In Ukraine, in accordance with Ukrainian legislation, permission has been granted for the exhumation of the remains found during search operations in 2023,” said the interlocutor of PAP.

According to the interlocutor of PAP, “the issue of restoring the names of Ukrainians (participants of the UPA) on the tombstone on Mount Monastir (in Poland) remains open.”

According to the official, permits for searches and exhumations in Ukraine will be issued separately for each burial site.

“There is Ukrainian legislation, according to which permits are issued and will be issued for carrying out work in specific places after consideration of properly executed necessary documents by enterprises that have the right to perform the relevant work,” he said.

Addition

In November 2024, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Poland and Ukraine, Radoslav Sikorsky and Andriy Sybiga, announced the decision to cancel the “moratorium” on the search and exhumation of the remains of Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy, which had been in effect since 2017, the publication notes.