Latest news with #VasylBodnar
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine's ambassador to Poland gives more details on Volyn exhumation plans
Ukraine's ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Bodnar, said on Feb. 8 that the preparations for the exhumation of remains of Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy are underway. Speaking in an interview with Polish TV channel TVN24, Bodnar said that exhumation will begin in the spring, but that the exact time will depend on the weather. Work is already underway to determine all the locations in Poland and Ukraine where exhumations will need to be carried out, he said, according to Ukrainian media. The Volyn tragedy, also known as the Volyn massacres, took place in 1943 in Nazi-occupied territory of what is now western Ukraine during World War II. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) killed tens of thousands of poles. Thousands of Ukrainians were also killed by Polish military in retaliation. The topic of the massacres and the long-unresolved dispute over exhumation of the remains have strained relations between the two allies. Poland repeatedly raised the issue as a potential roadblock to Ukraine's desire to join the EU, before Speaker of the Polish Parliament Szymon Holownia walked back these statements in September. A breakthrough on the issue was announced in January, when the two countries agreed to begin first exhumations of the victims. Later in the month, Polish media said that the exhumations would begin in April. According to Bodnar, Ukrainian legislation requires a licensed Ukrainian company to carry out the exhumations. A Polish partner for the project has been identified, he said. While Poland is providing the majority of the funding, Ukraine is also financing part of the project, he added. Read also: Volhynian Massacre — the Achilles heel of Ukrainian-Polish relations We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Exhumations of Volyn tragedy victims to begin this spring, Ukraine's ambassador to Poland says
Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine's Ambassador to Poland, has confirmed that work on the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy will begin this spring. [The Volyn (Volhynia) tragedy was a series of events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Polish and Ukrainian populations in 1943 during World War II. It was part of a long-standing rivalry between Ukrainians and Poles in what is now Ukraine's west. Poland considers the Volyn tragedy a genocide of Poles – ed.] Source: Bodnar on Polish news channel TVN24, as reported by European Pravda Details: "We intend to begin exhuming the victims of the Volyn massacre this spring at the first approved site in Puzhnyky. Efforts are also underway to secure decisions for exhumations at all other locations in both Ukraine and Poland," he said. When asked if the exhumations in Puzhnyky would begin in April, Bodnar said, "We don't know the exact month yet, but we are making preparations so that, weather permitting, all necessary authorisations are secured and the Polish team is ready to proceed". "Ukrainian law stipulates that a Ukrainian company must be licensed to carry out such work and the Polish side already has such a partner (...) This collaboration is advancing with a Ukrainian institution that has obtained all the necessary permits and once the teams begin excavation together, the public will be informed and an official announcement will be made through the ministers of culture," Bodnar said. Background: Earlier, it was reported that Poland's Freedom and Democracy Foundation, which discovered the burial site in Puzhnyky two years ago, had obtained permission from the Ukrainian authorities to exhume the remains and carry out further research. Reports indicate that approximately 80 people lost their lives in Puzhnyky during the tragic events of 1945. In early January, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a "breakthrough" in the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy, though he did not disclose any details. On the other hand, Andrii Nadzhos, Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Culture for European Integration, said that Ukraine and Poland had exchanged lists of places to search for and exhume the remains of mutual historical conflicts. At the end of November, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha issued a joint statement confirming that Ukraine had no objections to Polish state institutions and organisations conducting search and exhumation work. Support UP or become our patron!
Euronews
08-02-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Poland and Ukraine organise exhumations of WWII-era victims
Polish and Ukrainian officials are busy organising the exhumations set to take place in the Volhynia region. It follows a decision made last month, in which both countries agreed to exhume the first bodies from the Volhynia massacres. In 1943 the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a Ukrainian paramilitary force which collaborated with Nazi Germany, carried out a series of massacres in the Volhynia and Eastern Galicia regions in then German-occupied Poland. Taken altogether, this resulted in the deaths of an estimated 100,000 Polish civilians. People from other ethnicities were also massacred, including Armenians, Jews, Russians, Czechs, and Georgians, according to historians. The Ukranian ambassador in Poland, Vasyl Bodnar, confirmed on Saturday in an interview with the TVN broadcaster that 'all permits have been issued' to begin the exhumation of one mass grave in Western Ukraine. On Tuesday, Polish minister of culture and national Heritage Hanna Wróblewska confirmed that the site will be exhumed by a team of Polish and Ukrainian experts. 'At this moment, we have received permission and are preparing to [exhume] one place,' Wróblewska said in an interview with the RMF FM broadcaster. She referred to the village of Puzhnyky, where a burial pit was discovered in 2023. While Wróblewska stated the hope that several Polish organisations, including the NGO Freedom and Democracy Foundation, the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), and the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, will be able to work together on the issue, she added it must be joint effort between Poland and Ukraine. 'What is very important is that this will be done in collaboration with the Ukrainian side,' she said. Though the exact dates of the exhumations are yet to be confirmed, both sides said that they would take place in the springtime, with Wróblewska stating that she hoped they would take place in April. 'When the teams go out together, and start digging, then the public will know and of course we will communicate about it through the ministers of culture,' said Bodnar. Aside from providing the victims with a proper burial and commemorating their deaths in a respectful manner, Poland and Ukraine plan to cooperate on scientific research, taking DNA samples of the victims, as well as determining their causes of death and whether or not they were the result of violence. The multinational effort has the potential to reduce long standing tensions that the massacres have caused between the two otherwise close allies. While Poland officially recognized the events in Volhynia as a genocide, Ukraine disputes this classification, viewing it as a multi-sided conflict with shared responsibility on both sides. Now, officials on both sides hope that the beginning of the exhumation process will improve Polish-Ukrainian relations, and lead to further close collaboration between the two countries. 'We are negotiating with the Ukrainian side, and we are checking to see what we can change in the very complicated procedures, so that this process can now run more smoothly,' the Polish culture minister said in a statement on X. 'I see good will on the Ukrainian side. Please be patient. Let's not look for sensations. Let's not give in to manipulation from any side.'
