Ukraine plans to begin search and exhumation operations on Polish territory in September, Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications Andriy Nadzihos announced.
The cross-border initiative represents ongoing efforts by both countries to address historical wounds from World War II, when Polish and Ukrainian civilians were killed in ethnic violence in territories that are now part of western Ukraine.
"We are preparing to start search and exhumation work on Polish territory in September – in the village of Yurechkova," Nadzihos told Ukrinform. "We plan to make a preparatory trip there in mid-August, and in September – to start excavations. We want to make it before the start of the rainy season."
The announcement marks a reciprocal step in Polish-Ukrainian cooperation on historical reconciliation. Poland has provided Ukraine with 13 locations for conducting such work, while Ukraine has offered four locations to the Polish side, according to Nadzihos.
The September operations will follow exhumation work that began in Lviv in early June, when a Polish-Ukrainian team started searching for Polish military personnel killed at the beginning of World War II. Ukraine granted permission to Poland for exhumation work on the former territory of Zboyiska village, now within Lviv city limits, the Ministry of Culture reported in June.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski recently indicated that exhumation work "should soon begin in this and one other locality."
