Poland refused to exchange victims of the Volyn massacre for UPA monuments
The Ukrainian ban on search and exhumation work on the Polish side should be lifted regardless of the decision on the legalization of UPA monuments in Poland.
Polish Ambassador to Ukraine Jan Peklo stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We have problems with the historical dialogue, which was slowed down as a result of the Ukrainian side’s ban a year ago from issuing permission for Polish specialists to carry out search and exhumation work with the remains of Poles, victims of military and political repression on the territory of Ukraine during Soviet times. We believe that this ban is wrong and has a negative impact on our bilateral relations,” the diplomat said.
At the same time, he recalled that in a few months the 75th anniversary of the murder of the Polish population in Volyn and eastern Galicia will be celebrated, adding that it is very painful for Poland that the majority of the victims of this tragedy to this day do not have graves near which they can pray and light a symbolic candle.
“The resumption of search work and exhumation cannot be conditioned by the issue of construction of Ukrainian monuments in Poland. Back in February, Deputy Prime Minister Pyotr Glinsky proposed creating a commission that would conduct an inventory and examine, for each fact, the possibility of legalizing monuments that were built illegally. It is impossible to carry out a one-time mass legalization of monuments.
We propose to jointly carry out exhumation work in Hrushovice, where the local authorities dismantled the illegal UPA monument. If there are human remains there, then the grave will be restored,” Peklo noted.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.