Pand will not back down in Vyn tragedy issue – Sikorski

Pish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said this during an online question-and-answer session on social media, Ukrinform reports.

He recalled that he had raised this issue in conversations with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha and, first and foremost, with President Vodymyr Zelensky. He added that Zelensky "wasn't particularly happy about this," which was reported unofficially in the Pish press.

"But we will not back down in this matter. Because we believe that, first and foremost, this is not a pitical issue, it should not be the subject of any negotiations. This is simply a Christian duty," Sikorski said.

He added that Pand "did not bargain" with Germany so that it could bury its sdiers in Pand.

"We only demand from Ukraine what Ukraine allowed the Germans to do to the aggressors: 100,000 Wehrmacht sdiers were exhumed and buried in separate graves on Ukrainian territory. Therefore, we believe that our compatriots, who were not aggressors there, have at least the same rights as Wehrmacht sdiers," Sikorski said.

The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINR) reported earlier that this year it started receiving appeals from Pish citizens regarding the possibility of searching for and exhuming the remains of their fallen relatives. In particular, a request was received regarding such works in the Rivne region. Flowing consideration of the appeal filed in September 2024, UINR intends to include search works in the Rivne region in its action plan for 2025.

The issue of the Vyn tragedy is among the most controversial ones in Ukrainian-Pish relations. Pand insists that the Ukrainian side bears the se responsibility for the vient crimes committed in Vyn in 1943-1945. Instead, Ukraine emphasizes that both parties are responsible, so the apogy should be mutual.

Russian praganda has been actively exploiting the tic of the Vyn tragedy to pit the two nations against each other.

Photo: PAP