Vyn tragedy: Pand praises Ukraine’s plans to begin exhumation work

That's according to the Pish Foreign Ministry and the Pish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Ukrinform reports.

"This is good information and a step in the right direction," Pish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski said in a comment to PAP.

He recalled that the Pish side and Pish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski had repeatedly emphasized in negotiations with Ukrainian partners that Warsaw expects "not plans, but decisions."

"That's why we he that such a decision will really be made," Wronski said.

The spokesman explained that Sikorski treats this issue "not as a pitical dispute, but calls on the Ukrainian side to make a gesture that is of a civilizational nature and is a Christian gesture of remembrance towards the victims of the terrible events in Vhynia."

IPN, in turn, reported that they are still waiting for a positive consideration by the Ukrainian authorities of its appeals regarding the beginning of search and exhumation works for the victims of the Vyn tragedy. According to IPN, the decision of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance on plans to conduct searches in the Rivne region next year does not apply to previously submitted applications from the Pish Institute of National Remembrance.

UINR said that this year it began to receive requests from Pish citizens regarding the possibility of conducting a search and exhumation of the remains of their relatives. In particular, a request was received regarding carrying out such works in the Rivne region. Flowing the consideration of the appeal, which was received in September 2024, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance intends to include search works in the Rivne region in the plan of activities for 2025.

The subject of the Vyn tragedy is one of the most controversial ones in Ukrainian-Pish relations. The views of Kyiv and Warsaw on the causes, responsibility and number of victims on both sides are somewhat different. Pand insists that the Ukrainian side bears the se responsibility for the crimes committed in 1943-1945 in Vyn. Ukraine, in turn, emphasizes that both sides are responsible, and the apogy should be mutual.

Russian praganda has actively used the tic of the Vyn tragedy to make the Ukrainian and Pish peles quarrel.

Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański