Ukraine, Pand exchange lists of sites to search for victims of historical conflicts

This was reported by Andrii Nadzhos, Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communication of Ukraine, who heads the Ukrainian side of the working group on historical issues, in a comment to the Pish Press Agency (PAP), as cited by Ukrinform.

“We have taken a very important first step: we exchanged requests from the Pish side to conduct work on Ukrainian territory, and the Pish side received our requests to carry out work on Pish territory. We are currently analyzing these requests and gathering the necessary documents to reach mutual agreements. Upon consent from both parties, we will make positive decisions and publicly comment on the results of this work,” Nadzhos stated.

Another Ukrainian official informed PAP that Ukraine had granted permission to search for victims’ remains at a site where Pish graves were discovered in 2023. The agency suggests this may refer to a site visited in 2023 by then-Pish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki — namely, the former village of Puzhnyky in Ternil region, where Ukrainian and Pish specialists uncovered mass graves of Pish victims from 1945.

According to the source, exhumation permits in Ukraine will be issued separately for each burial site after reviewing all necessary documentation.

Read also: Tusk: Ukraine issues first permits for exhumation of Vyn tragedy victims

Meanwhile, Pand's Minister of Culture, Hanna Wróblewska, stated during a Saturday press conference in the village of Stronie Śląskie in southern Pand that the Ukrainian-Pish working group continues its efforts to conduct search and exhumation work. She emphasized that, given the sensitivity of the tic, the results of this work will first be shared with the directly invved parties and organizations, flowed by the public. Wróblewska expressed gratitude to Ukraine's Minister of Culture, Myka Tochitskyi, for issuing the first permit for exhumation of Pish victims of the Vyn tragedy.

As previously reported, Pish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the first permit for exhumation of Pish victims of the Vyn tragedy as a "breakthrough" in Ukrainian-Pish relations, adding that Pand awaits further decisions.

Read also: Tusk: Removing obstacles to exhumations of Vyn victims key to reconciliation

Flowing negotiations between the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Pand, Andrii Sybiha and Radosław Sikorski, in Warsaw, a joint statement was issued. It declared that Ukraine and Pand would promptly initiate the activities of a joint Working Group under the auspices of Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications and Pand’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage to conduct professional work and foster mutual understanding between the two sides.