Poland reburies WWII soldiers exhumed in western Ukraine
Poland reburied its World War II soldiers in the western Ukrainian town of Mostyska on Friday, after their remains were exhumed in Lviv, with the Polish minister saying the ceremony was the result of joint efforts between Poland and Ukraine.
The soldiers' remains were found in August, and their exhumation was part of an agreement between Ukraine and Poland to resume the exhumation of Polish victims on Ukrainian soil. The servicemen fell in September 1939 while defending Lviv and were previously buried in the former Polish village of Zboiska, now part of the city.
The burial ceremony was attended by several Polish officials, including Minister of Culture Marta Cienkowska, President Karol Nawrocki's advisor Jan Jozef Kasprzyk, and Deputy Defence Minister Stanislaw Wziatek. Ukraine was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Oleksandr Mishchenko and Deputy Culture Minister Ivan Verbytskyi. The ceremony also included representatives from both the Polish and Ukrainian Institutes of National Remembrance.
"Near Zboiska, they fought for Lviv, a city symbolic for its culture and faith," Cienkowska said during the ceremony. "Thanks to the work of Polish and Ukrainian archaeologists, historians, and volunteers, and the support of people of goodwill, we can today restore the names of our heroes."
Kasprzyk read the president's letter at the ceremony, which stated: "Today, years later, thanks to the exhumations that have been carried out, we can lay our heroes to rest and commemorate them with dignity... I bow my head before the fallen together with you. Poland remembers them and will remember them forever."
The area around Lviv, including the then-village of Zboiska, saw heavy fighting after Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. At the time, Polish forces under Colonel Stanislaw Maczek were engaged in intense combat with the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany, in the Lviv region.
For years, exhumations of Poles killed in Ukraine during the Volhynia massacre and other wartime events were stalled due to Kyiv's moratorium on exhumations, imposed in 2017.
The dispute concerns the role of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a World War II military organisation. Poland claims it was responsible for the mass murder of Polish civilians during the Volhynia massacre, while Ukrainians often regard it as a liberation force. (PAP)
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