The head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Anton Drobovych, stated that since September the Polish Institute of National Remembrance had not replied to his request for a list of sites where remains of victims should be buried or searched, including in Volhynia. Karol Nawrocki, president of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance, said that since 2017 the Polish institute has consistently pressed to ensure that every excavation request and excavation in Volhynia is fulfilled, affirming commitments to historical truth. Nawrocki noted that nine applications have been submitted since 2017, with the most recent one signed by him in early 2024. [Citation: Interfax-Ukraine]
In September the Polish side asked for a list and details of the places where the work was to be conducted. To date no answer has been received.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, Drobovych told the agency that the Ukrainian side regarded the lack of a response as an ongoing obstacle to cooperation. The agency also reported that the Ukrainian IPN head suggested it would be difficult to distinguish statements from those of a presidential candidate, noting that a political party backed Nawrocki for the presidency. [Citation: Interfax-Ukraine]
The day before yesterday, Ukraine confirmed there were no obstacles to carrying out search and excavation work on its territory. The decision to lift the moratorium on search and exhumation of Polish victims of the Volhynian massacre, in force since 2017, was announced at a joint press conference by Poland and Ukraine’s foreign ministers, Radosław Sikorski and Andriy Sybiha. [Citation: Joint press conference]
Dispute over commemoration
Since spring 2017 a dispute has persisted between Warsaw and Kyiv over a ban on the search and exhumation of Polish victims’ remains on Ukrainian soil, introduced by the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance after the dismantling of the UPA monument in Hruszowice in April 2017. [Citation: Interfax-Ukraine]
Poland and Ukraine have long differed in memory of the role played by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which Polish authorities describe as perpetrating a genocidal ethnic cleansing of about 100,000 people in 1943–45. Polish views frame the events as genocide, while Ukrainian perspectives describe them as an anti-Soviet armed struggle in which both sides bore responsibility. Ukrainians emphasize viewing the OUN and UPA primarily as anti-Soviet organizations rather than as anti-Polish groups.
From 2017 to 2024 the Institute of National Remembrance submitted nine formal applications to Kyiv, addressing the possibility of conducting searches at a total of 65 sites (some sites appearing across multiple requests due to repeated submissions). Some applications received positive reviews and progressed; others were denied or left without a response. [Citation: IPN records]
Nawrocki on many years of practice
Karol Nawrocki, president of the Institute of National Remembrance, noted that the Polish institute has repeatedly sent exhumation requests to Kyiv over many years. Since 2017 the IPN has pressed to ensure that all excavations in Volhynia proceed and that the work aligns with the duty to historical truth. The first application in 2017 sought permission to conduct searches at numerous sites, and nine such requests were submitted through 2024; none were accepted by Kyiv.
Nevertheless, the Institute has not given up. It has continued its educational and commemorative work, with Polish cities welcoming memorial plaques and monuments. The Monument to the Victims of the Volhynian Genocide from Zielona Góra was unveiled, and new publications were prepared.
Nawrocki stated that the last of the nine applications would be signed at the start of 2024, directed to Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Information Policy. He described the public statement as having a secondary purpose and signaled a willingness to move ahead if the statements by politicians were more than rhetoric. The Institute stands ready to carry out excavation work in Volhynia for formal confirmation and a response to the long-shipped requests from 2017.
The IPN’s identification office is said to be ready to conduct real searches in Volhynia within 24 hours, pending formal confirmation. Nawrocki expressed personal readiness to travel to Ukraine to see the work begin.
— Nawrocki
Source references have been removed to maintain focus on the record of events and institutional positions. [Citation: IPN records; Interfax-Ukraine; Joint press conference]