On November 14, in Mostyska, western Ukraine, the remains of Polish Army soldiers who fell in September 1939 while defending Lviv and were buried in Lviv-Zboiska will be laid to rest. Their exhumations were carried out in August, Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar told the Ukrinform news agency.
Exhumations in Puźniki and Lviv
Recently, two exhumations were conducted in Ukraine, including in Puźniki, Ternopil region, where the burial had already taken place. However, the remains of Polish Army soldiers exhumed in Lviv will be reburied in Mostyska on November 14, the diplomat told the Ukrainian agency.
Vasyl Bodnar noted that the Ukrainian side is also “preparing to organize expeditions to other locations where search and exhumation works are to be carried out.”
The ambassador informed that a few days ago, a meeting of the working group responsible for search and exhumation operations was held in Lviv, during which preliminary results were summarized and further steps agreed upon.
“We are also counting on a visit by the President of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Oleksandr Alfiorov, to Warsaw to discuss with Polish officials the issues of further searches and exhumations, both in Ukraine and in Poland,”
Bodnar emphasized, adding that the visit may take place before the end of the year.
He thanked the Polish side for the good organization of search works in the town of Jureczkowa in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and expressed hope that these efforts will continue.
“For us, openness, readiness for cooperation, and reciprocity in our relations are important. Mutual transparency allows us to say that, on a political level, we have moved from discussions about search and exhumation matters to practical work – as both sides demonstrate,”
he underlined.
The diplomat reminded that a new co-chair of the Ukrainian group for search and exhumation works will soon be appointed to replace Andriy Nadzhoz, who has taken a post at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
“Now the most important thing is to maintain the previously agreed pace of work, to show the Ukrainian and Polish societies practical progress, openness, and readiness for joint action from both sides,”
Bodnar emphasized.
The diplomat also expressed readiness to keep Polish lawmakers regularly informed about developments in Ukrainian-Polish relations in the field of search and exhumation works. In his opinion, experts should also openly communicate the tangible results of these efforts to keep Polish society informed about the situation in this area.