Polish-Ukrainian Teams Exhume 49 Volhynia Victims as 14 More Permit Requests Await
Updated
Updated · Agencia EFE · Aug 2
Polish-Ukrainian Teams Exhume 49 Volhynia Victims as 14 More Permit Requests Await
3 articles · Updated · Agencia EFE · Aug 2
Summary
Forty-nine bodies have been recovered from mass graves in Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka, where joint Polish-Ukrainian teams are excavating victims of the 1943 Volhynia killings.
Ukraine granted the current permit quickly, and Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance said 14 further requests are pending as both sides test whether exhumations can ease a renewed dispute over wartime memory.
That dispute sharpened after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named a special forces unit after the UPA and Polish President Karol Nawrocki revoked a state honor for him, threatening to block Ukraine’s EU bid unless Kyiv condemns the group.
Poland estimates 100,000-130,000 Polish victims and calls the killings genocide, while Ukraine rejects that label, cites mutual violence that also killed up to 20,000 Ukrainians, and says broader research in both countries is needed.