Poland hands over to Ukraine a list of sites for exhumation works

The Polish side has handed over to Ukraine a list of sites where it proposes to carry out further search and exhumation works. This happened on 5 August during a meeting of the Ukrainian-Polish working group on dignified burials in Lviv.

This was reported by Ivan Verbytskyi, First Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine. He did not specify which particular sites were included in the new list.

The meeting participants also discussed the results of already conducted research and the further organisation of works on the territory of both countries. Ukrainian and Polish specialists are engaged in the search, exhumation and subsequent burial of the remains of Ukrainians and Poles who died during wars and political repressions.

The joint working group was established in November 2024. Its task was to consider applications for conducting search and exhumation research, as well as to develop a transparent procedure for issuing the necessary permits.

In 2026, the parties have planned works in Puzhnyky in the Ternopil region, Holosko in Lviv, Uhly in the Rivne region, Huta Pieniacka and the former villages of Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka in Volhynia. On the territory of Poland, research is foreseen in Jureczkowa, Sahryń and Lasków.

In July, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance began exhumations in Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka. Two mass graves and one single grave had been discovered there earlier. The works are supposed to continue until 7 August.

Ukraine and Poland emphasise that cooperation in this sphere is of a humanitarian nature and should guarantee the right of families to search for, identify and give a dignified burial to the remains of the dead.