Ukraine hopes for progress in restoring WWII graves in Poland
The head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UIPN) expressed hope that progress will be made this year in restoring Ukrainian World War II gravesites in Poland vandalised in recent years.
"One can say that there has been no change [in the matter]. But I am confident that this year will be different," Oleksandr Alfiorov said in an interview published on Wednesday by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to the UIPN chief, efforts to renovate the damaged memorial sites have been slowed in part by attitudes within Polish society toward these locations.
"Unfortunately, our Polish friends have shifted their focus to searching for a historical enemy," he said. "The Polish nation has suffered greatly at the hands of Russia, yet attention has — somewhat unexpectedly — turned toward Ukraine."
The UIPN head also pledged to ensure the continuation of search and exhumation work at Polish gravesites in Ukraine, adding that he expects reciprocal steps from the Polish side.
"I am pleased that the presidents of our countries have found common ground when it comes to commemorating the victims of past conflicts [mutual hostilities during and after World War Two]," he remarked, adding that the Polish and Ukrainian remembrance institutes are likewise working to strengthen cooperation and dialogue.
In his view, anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland is largely rooted in unresolved historical disputes, particularly the renewed focus on Ukrainian nationalist insurgent groups that once operated in territories now part of Ukraine and Poland.
"We must find common ground with Poland so that peace can be found not only by our societies but also by the civilian victims of 1939-1947," Alfiorov concluded.
Relations between Warsaw and Kyiv have long been strained over differing interpretations of the role played by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in the deaths of an estimated 100,000 Poles during and after World War II. Poland considers the massacres to have been a planned genocide, while Ukraine characterises the violence as a bilateral armed conflict in which both sides bear responsibility. (PAP)
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