Ukraine and Poland Exchange Lists of Sites for Searching Remains of Historical Conflict Victims

Ukraine and Poland have exchanged lists of places to search for the remains of victims of mutual historical conflicts.

Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine Andriy Najos, who heads the working group on historical issues on the Ukrainian side, said this in a commentary to PAP, Ukrinform reports.

‘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 in Poland. We are now analysing these requests and collecting documents to make positive decisions and publicly comment on the results of such work with the consent of both parties,’ Najos said.

According to the agency's source, exhumation permits on the territory of Ukraine will be issued separately for each burial site after reviewing all the necessary documents.

Today, during a press conference in Strone Śląskie in the south of the country, Polish Minister of Culture Anna Wróblewska said that the Ukrainian-Polish working group is continuing to work on search and exhumation work. According to her, given the importance of this topic, the results of its work will be first known to interested individuals and organisations that are part of this process, and then to the public. 

Vrublevska expressed her gratitude to her Ukrainian counterpart, Minister of Culture of Ukraine Mykola Tochytskyi, for the first consent to the exhumation of Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy.

Earlier, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the first permission for the exhumation of Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy a ‘breakthrough’ in Ukrainian-Polish relations.