Poland welcomes Ukraine’s step towards resuming exhumation of Volyn tragedy victims
Pravda Ukraine
Paweł Wroński, spokesman for Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has welcomed the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory’s willingness to start work on the search and exhumation of Volyn tragedy victims [The Volyn (Volhynia) tragedy was a series of events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Polish and Ukrainian populations in 1943 during World War II. It was part of a long-standing rivalry between Ukrainians and Poles in what is now Ukraine’s west. Poland considers the Volyn tragedy a genocide of Poles – ed.].
Source: Wroński in a comment to PAP, as reported by European Pravda
Details: According to Wroński, the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory statement on its readiness to resume the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy is “good information and a step in the right direction”.
Quote: “During conversations with Ukrainian partners, Minister Radosław Sikorski emphasised the need for solutions rather than plans. Thus, we hope that such a decision will be made,” Wroński added.
He underlined that the Polish Foreign Minister “considers this issue not as a political dispute, but calls on the Ukrainian side to make a civilised and Christian gesture of memory regarding the victims of the terrible events in Volyn”.
The day before, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance declared that it plans to include work on the search and exhumation of Polish remains in Rivne Oblast in 2025, in response to petitions from Polish individuals.
Although it is not specified who made the request, European Pravda earlier reported on Karolina Romanowska, President of the Polish-Ukrainian Reconciliation Association, who made such a petition in regard to the village of Uhly in today’s Rivne Oblast.
This is happening against the backdrop of Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha’s visit to Poland, where he attended the Warsaw Security Forum and talked with a number of Polish authorities.
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