Poland expresses firm stance on Volhynia massacre
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski (acebook.com radeksikorski)
Poland has declared that it will not back down on the issue of the Volhynia tragedy. Warsaw is demanding that Ukraine exhume the bodies of the tragedy's victims, according to Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski.
Sikorski recalled that he had raised the issue both in discussions with Ukraine's Foreign Minister and with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“We will not compromise on this issue. First and foremost, this is not a political issue; it should not be a subject of bargaining. It is simply a Christian duty, which reflects on who we are,” he said.
The Foreign Minister emphasized that Poland is "only asking Ukraine for what it allowed Germany to do with 100,000 Wehrmacht soldiers," who were exhumed and buried in individual graves on Ukrainian territory.
"We believe that our compatriots, who were not aggressors there, have at least the same rights as the Wehrmacht soldiers," the Polish minister added.
Volhynia tragedy
The Volyn tragedy occurred in 1943. At that time, according to historians, the Polish Home Army and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army conducted what were described as ethnic cleansings of both Poles and Ukrainians.
According to researchers, over 100,000 Poles and 40,000 Ukrainians perished in Volhynia.
Earlier, Poland had said that it wanted to raise the issue of the Volhynia tragedy during negotiations on Ukraine's EU membership, particularly concerning the exhumation of Polish victims of the tragedy.
For more on how discussions about events from 80 years ago continue to impact relations between Ukraine and Poland, see the detailed article by RBC-Ukraine.
