‘Without the exhumation of massacre victims, there is nothing to hope for’: Poland has named the key condition for Ukraine’s accession to the EU

Without resolving the issues related to the exhumation of Polish remains on Ukrainian territory, there is “nothing to dream about in terms of joining the European Union”.

This information reported according to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Pavel Jablonski, in an interview with Radio ZET.

The conversation with the Deputy Head of Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs focused on the exhumation of the graves of Poles who died during the Volhynian Massacre on Ukrainian territory.

“I will state our position. In my opinion, without addressing this issue – and many Ukrainians are already realizing this too – Ukraine has nothing to hope for in terms of joining the European Union. Therefore, we will emphasize that without resolving this issue, there will be no long-term reconciliation with Ukraine,” Jablonski stated.

When asked if exhumation is a condition for Poland’s support of Ukraine’s EU accession, the official gave an evasive response.

“I don’t like to speak in terms of conditions. I speak about reality: if we are supposed to be in the same union as a country with which we have a significant dispute, the dispute must be resolved, otherwise cooperation becomes difficult,” added the Polish official.

In 2019, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to lift the ban on exhumation and the search for the remains of Polish victims on Ukrainian territory, which had been imposed by the previous Ukrainian government. This decision was in response to the demolition of a UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) monument in Grushovychi, in the Subcarpathian region.

The first search efforts in Lviv were resumed in November 2019. The Ukrainian side conditioned the issuance of further permits on the restoration of the desecrated grave of UPA fighters at a monastery in January 2020.

At that time, the destroyed tombstone was restored, but without a list of names of UPA fighters who had died in battles against Soviet forces.