Polish Foreign Minister: Ukraine to allow Volyn Massacre victims exhumation

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell

The Ukrainian authorities confirm that there are no obstacles to conducting search and exhumation activities on their territory. This was announced by Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski following a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, as reported by the Polish news agency PAP.

For many years, the Polish side has demanded that Ukrainian authorities lift the ban on the search and exhumation of Polish victims of the Volhynia massacre.

"Ukraine confirms the absence of obstacles for Polish state institutions and private individuals conducting search and exhumation activities on Ukrainian territory in cooperation with relevant Ukrainian institutions, in accordance with Ukrainian legislation, and declares its readiness to positively consider requests on these matters," Radosław Sikorski said during a joint press conference after the meeting.

The Polish Foreign Minister emphasized that this is a jointly agreed statement.

"Every family has the right to honor the memory of their ancestors properly, and within the framework of a joint Ukrainian-Polish working group under the auspices of the ministries of culture of both countries, we are working on practical mechanisms for conducting search and exhumation activities," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated in turn.

According to him, both Kyiv and Warsaw are interested in resolving misunderstandings regarding historical issues.

As previously reported by the UOJ, the head of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance noted that one cannot become part of European civilization without respecting the dead and allowing the burial of 120,000 people.

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