Ukrainian Expedition Starts Exhumation of UPA Fighters’ Graves in Poland

Today, September 30, in the village of Yurechkova in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship of Poland, search-and-exhumation work is starting at the site of possible UPA fighters’ burials. The Ukrainian expedition includes anthropologists, historians, and forensic experts. The work will last approximately two to three weeks.

According to Andriy Nadzhos, Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine for European Integration, the Ukrainian side has long been working to obtain permissions to begin the work. Last night, September 29, the expedition, consisting of 11 people, crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border.

Indeed, today (September 30) a new page opens for Ukraine, as we have waited a long time and worked to ensure that the Poles grant us permission to go through all their internal procedures

Launch of the Expedition and Expectations

According to preliminary estimates, the work will last about two to three weeks.

Of course, this all depends on weather conditions, because today in that area heavy rains are forecast, but we anticipate that in about three weeks this expedition will complete its work. We understand that this will be the first step. For example, to the Ternopil region, the village of Pluzhnyky, the Polish search expedition has gone out several times. This took some time because you cannot always immediately locate a mass grave site

According to the interviewees, such expeditions show that dialogue between mature nations regarding difficult historical issues continues.

We understand, of course, that the Poles have more emotions on this issue. Polish society has been overheated by the topic of Volhynia. What we are doing now is a step toward lowering this degree of overheating and removing this issue from the political agenda. This should be handled by experts. Do not mix politics with history, that is our position

In summary, the expedition will last a few weeks, and its goal is to obtain answers to questions about the past and to support dialogue between Ukraine and Poland, taking into account historical sensitivities.