The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINP) did not receive official requests from the Polish side to allow the exhumation of the bodies of the victims of the Volyn tragedy. This was announced by the head of the institute, Anton Drobovich, in an interview with Radio Liberty. According to him, Ukraine is ready to consider the possibility of carrying out search and exhumation works, but no specific requests have yet been received from Poland.
"Two weeks ago, I sent a letter to the Polish Ministry of Culture and the Polish Institute of National Remembrance asking where exactly search or exhumation work is needed. However, there has been no official response yet," said Drobovich.
The head of the UINP added that although the institute received a request from a Polish citizen, this request will be included in the work plan for 2025, even in the absence of official requests at the state level. Drobovych also mentioned that Poland did not fulfill previous agreements on the creation of a joint working group to coordinate search and exhumation works.
In addition, the head of the institute emphasized the importance of observing the agreement between Ukraine and Poland from 1994 and mentioned the cases of vandalism on Ukrainian graves in Poland. In particular, he emphasized that the mass grave of soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) on Mount Monastir still remains destroyed.
"This is an absurd situation, even Polish politicians do not understand why the legal grave has not yet been restored," said Drobovich.
The Ukrainian authorities have already given permission to start search operations on the graves of Poles who died during the UPA attack in February 1945 in the town of Puzniki in Podilly. However, further steps in this direction require an official request from Poland.
Earlier, Polish Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysh noted that solving the issue of the Volyn tragedy of 1943 is a condition for Ukraine's accession to the European Union. However, Polish President Andrzej Duda criticized this statement, stressing the importance of developing Polish-Ukrainian relations.
