Exhumation of Volhynia Massacre victims begins in Ukraine
Poland and Ukraine have started exhumation work in the Ukrainian village of Puzhnyky to recover the remains of Polish victims of the Volhynia Massacre, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage said.
This signifies the inaugural operation following Ukraine's removal of the prohibition on searches and exhumations of the remains of Polish war and conflict victims within its borders in November 2024.
According to a statement from the Polish Ministry of Culture issued on Thursday, the exhumation efforts are part of a broader collaborative initiative. Warsaw has been responsible for overseeing Polish war graves abroad, based on a 1994 agreement between the governments of the two states aimed at preserving the memory and burial sites of victims of war and political repression. The ministry is working in partnership with the Ukrainian-based Freedom and Democracy Foundation.
The exhumation efforts are being conducted by a team of around 20 experts, with roughly 50 specialists assigned to perform the DNA analyses.
The village of Puzhnyky, located in the western Ternopil region, is estimated to have witnessed the deaths of between 50 and 120 Poles at the hands of Ukrainian nationalists in February 1945.
Warsaw has submitted 13 official requests for exhumations, addressing not only the Volhynia Massacre but also other historical incidents, including Stalinist atrocities and the defensive war of 1939.
"In addition to this, other requests are being filed by various social organisations," Pawel Kowal, the Polish government's plenipotentiary for Ukraine's reconstruction and head of the Polish-Ukrainian Working Group for Historical Dialogue, told PAP.
For decades, the 1943-1944 Volhynia Massacre, during which Ukrainian nationalists murdered approximately 100,000 Poles, has cast a shadow on Kyiv-Warsaw relations. Ukraine approved the exhumations efforts in January. The Poles view the massacre as a significant, organised and reprehensible crime of genocide, while Ukrainians refer to the events as a "tragedy" stemming from mutual armed and ethnic conflicts, with both sides bearing some responsibility.
Partial funding for the entire search and exhumation process is being provided by Kyiv.
The exhumation process had been at a standstill since 2017 due to a moratorium, which was ultimately lifted in November 2024. (PAP)
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