Poland is ready to begin the exhumation of the victims of the Volhynia massacre within 24 hours

The Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) may begin exhumation work in Volhynia within 24 hours.

This statement was made by its head, presidential candidate from the opposition PiS party, Karol Nawrocki, as reported by RMF24.

Nawrocki reminded that the IPN has “consistently fought since 2017 to ensure that all the results of exhumations and excavations in Volhynia are truthful.”

“In 2017, the IPN made its first request for search and exhumation work. This request concerned several settlements. From 2017 to 2024, we submitted nine such requests. None of these requests were accepted by the Ukrainian side,” said Nawrocki.

According to Nawrocki, if public statements by politicians are not just political declarations, the National Remembrance Institute — the only institution willing to undertake exhumation work — is awaiting official confirmation and responses to their requests.

Nawrocki assured that the IPN has the personnel and equipment, so if official permission on this issue is granted, rather than just declarations, prepared teams will be sent to Ukraine.

“The Bureau of Search and Identification of the National Remembrance Institute is ready to conduct real searches in Volhynia within 24 hours. Therefore, we are waiting for official confirmation of the permission,” he said.

The president of the National Remembrance Institute also claimed that the searches could begin despite the ongoing armed conflict with Russia in Ukraine. The war has no effect on the efficiency of the Institute’s staff, he added.

It should be noted that yesterday, the foreign ministers of Poland and Ukraine, Radosław Sikorski and Andriy Sibiga, issued a joint statement regarding exhumations, which has become a point of contention between the two countries.

Former head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and current MP, Volodymyr Vyatrovych, criticized the decision made by the diplomats.

“It’s great that the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Poland are ‘determined to resolve the controversial issues of our common past in the name of universal human values and in the Christian spirit.’ But for some reason, the concrete vision of this solution has turned into unilateral obligations for Ukraine… There is not a single word about honoring the deceased Ukrainians and their burial sites in Poland,” Vyatrovych wrote on Facebook.