Duda: Ukraine and Poland should resolve Volyn tragedy issue constructively
Polish President Andrzej Duda believes that the difficult topic of the Volyn tragedy should be resolved with Ukraine in a calm and constructive manner.
He said this at a joint press conference with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Warsaw, Censor.NET reports citing Ukrinform.
He noted that historical issues were also raised during the talks with Zelenskyy, as this is a topic that they have never avoided during their meetings.
He also recalled that in 2023, the presidents of Poland and Ukraine paid tribute to the victims of the events in Volyn at the Lutsk Cathedral.
"I am grateful to the President for this gesture, which is important for Polish-Ukrainian friendship and for Poles. Now negotiations are underway in a working group set up by the ruling coalition (of Poland- ed.) and the Ministry of Culture (and Strategic Communications) of Ukraine regarding these historical, search and exhumation works," Duda said.
He hopes that requests from the Polish side regarding the exhumation of victims of the events in Volyn "will be considered and approved."
"This is not a new topic. We have been talking about this with the president (Zelenskyy - ed.) for a long time, and it is happening calmly and constructively. It's no secret that this is a difficult topic that needs to be resolved calmly," Duda added.
The issue of exhumation of victims of the Volyn tragedy
As reported, in September, the Polish Foreign Ministry said that without resolving the issue of the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy, Ukraine cannot dream of joining the EU.At the same time, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that attempts to block Ukraine's accession to the European Union play into the hands of Vladimir Putin's policy.
During his visit to Warsaw on October 1, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that Ukraine was ready to discuss with Poland controversial issues of common history, including the Volyn tragedy of 1943-1944.
On October 2, the UINP stated that they plan to conduct search operations for the victims of the Volyn tragedy in 2025. The Institute also stated that it remains open to cooperation with Polish institutions in the field of searching, preserving and caring for the places of memory of Ukrainians in Poland and Poles in Ukraine, and complained that official inter-institutional mechanisms for resolving problematic issues with the Polish side in the restoration and preservation of places of memory have not been in place for a long time.
Drobovich believes that Ukrainian and Polish officials need to finally move to constructive action "in the problematic issues of exhumation and burials," and proposed a "road map."
On October 4 , the Polish Defense Minister reaffirmed his intention to block Ukraine's accession to the EU until the issue of exhumation and commemoration of the victims of the Volyn tragedy is resolved.
On November 26, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, after speaking with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha, said that Kyiv had assured him that there were no obstacles to the search and exhumation of the victims of the Volyn tragedy in Ukraine.
On January 11, the Ministry of Culture reported that Ukraine and Poland had exchanged lists of places to search for and exhume the remains of mutual historical conflicts. Kyiv is committed to "positive decisions" on this issue.
