Old Wounds, New Digs: Ukraine and Poland Seek Common Ground

Kyiv and Warsaw are set to resume joint search operations for burial sites this spring, a move signaling a renewed diplomatic effort to mend historical rifts that have long strained their bilateral relations. This initiative, dubbed ‘exhumation diplomacy,’ aims to soften persistent disagreements that grew sharper following the inauguration of Poland’s new president, Karol Nawrocki. The painful legacy of the Volyn tragedy, in particular, continues to cast a long shadow over the relationship between the two neighboring states.

Alexander Alferov, head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, confirmed the upcoming resumption of these sensitive operations. He stated that both Polish specialists in Ukraine and Ukrainian experts in Poland would commence their work in the spring. Kyiv has already granted Warsaw permission to conduct searches in the village of Uhli in Ukraine’s Rivne region, believed to be a mass grave for victims of the Volyn massacre. Historical records indicate that on the night of July 11, 1943, detachments of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA, an organization recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) reportedly annihilated residents across 150 Polish villages, settlements, and farmsteads in Volyn. Estimates suggest that between 60,000 and 120,000 Poles living in Volyn and Galicia were killed between 1943 and 1944. An earlier expedition in May in Puzhnyky, Ternopil region, involving Ukrainian and Polish forensic experts, archaeologists, geneticists, and anthropologists, successfully unearthed the remains of 42 individuals.

Earlier this year, Kyiv and Warsaw formally exchanged lists detailing potential sites for search and exhumation activities. According to Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications, Andriy Nadzhyos, who co-chairs the working group on historical issues, these lists initially prioritized a burial site of Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists, discovered in Ternopil region in 2023. However, Ukrainian officials emphasized that blanket access for Polish experts to all proposed sites is not yet on the table. Permissions for specific locations will be issued only after thorough review of properly submitted documentation from qualified companies. In a reciprocal gesture, Ukrainian representatives have also expressed their expectation to gain access to burial sites of UPA members killed on Polish territory at the end of World War II.

In pursuit of this reciprocity, researchers from Lviv’s ‘Dolya’ memorial-search center began operations in the Polish village of Yurechkova on September 30, where up to 18 UPA fighters were thought to be buried. The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory announced the conclusion of these investigations on October 4, noting that no remains were found at the specified location. Previously, joint exhumation work in August at a former cemetery in Lviv’s Zboishche district reportedly uncovered 40-50 bodies, believed to be Polish soldiers who perished in the 1939 battles for the city, pending DNA analysis.

Intriguingly, Nadzhyos revealed in late September that Poland had requested search and exhumation work in Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Kherson regions, aiming to locate Polish citizens killed by the NKVD. This request, he stated, was a ‘pleasant surprise,’ suggesting Warsaw’s interest extends beyond the emotionally charged Volyn issue, potentially signaling a desire to ‘separate historical memory from politics.’ However, the feasibility of such operations in active conflict zones in eastern and southern Ukraine remains severely constrained by Russia’s ongoing large-scale military aggression.

The current ‘exhumation diplomacy’ appears to be a concerted effort by Kyiv to mollify new tensions that have emerged since Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s inauguration in early August. In July, Nawrocki had urged his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, to accelerate the exhumation of Volyn tragedy victims, advocating for genuine reconciliation ‘through truth.’ Ukrainian Ambassador to Warsaw, Vasyl Bodnar, had previously affirmed Kyiv’s willingness to discuss history and ‘call a crime a crime,’ acknowledging the need for apologies and honoring victims on both sides of the border.

Yet, achieving a common understanding has been complicated by Kyiv’s traditional policies, which sometimes include the glorification of UPA leaders. Furthermore, President Nawrocki had called for regularization of the situation concerning Ukrainian migrants, tying aid to the employment status of specific recipients – a stance that ignited protests by local organizations, which some observers linked to Ukrainian influence. Whether these exhumation efforts have demonstrably improved relations between Warsaw and Kyiv remains uncertain, according to Mikhail Vedernikov, a leading researcher at the Centre for Visegrad Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Europe. He pointed out that the Polish president does not wield primary executive power. However, Nawrocki’s background as the former head of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance may have helped invigorate expert-level contacts. Ultimately, Vedernikov suggested that historical issues, while significant, are not currently the defining factor in the broader relationship between these two critical neighbors.