Exhumation work will begin in Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka in Volhynia on Monday, July 13, the Search and Identification Office of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) announced on Saturday.
The office recalled that the burial sites of Poles murdered by Ukrainian nationalists were identified during search operations conducted in April.
The Search and Identification Office announced that exhumations in Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka, located in the Volhynia region, will begin on Monday, July 13, 2026. The work will be carried out by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in cooperation with the company Volhynian Antiquities and Dr. Łukasz Szeszkowski of the Wrocław Medical University.
On Saturday, Rafał Leśkiewicz, spokesperson for President-elect Karol Nawrocki, recalled that Ukraine’s renewed permission to conduct search and exhumation work was the result of a meeting between the presidents of Poland and Ukraine held in Warsaw on December 19, 2025.
Since then, the Institute of National Remembrance has received several permits, enabling search and exhumation work to be carried out in locations including Ostrówki, Wola Ostrowiecka, and Huta Pieniacka. The process of obtaining additional permits is still underway.
One of the Largest Crimes of the Volhynia Massacres
It is worth recalling that in late August 1943, units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) carried out the planned massacre of the Polish civilian population in Wola Ostrowiecka and Ostrówki, both located in Volhynia.
An estimated 1,000 people were murdered across the two villages, making the atrocity one of the largest tragedies of the Volhynia massacres.