Poland has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters in the latter’s conflict with Russia, but the World War II massacre has long thrown a shadow over relations between Warsaw and Kyiv.
The killings, which saw 100,000 Poles murdered by Ukrainian nationalists, took place between 1943 and 1945 in pre-war Polish territories in the regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia in today’s Ukraine.
The UINP’s decision comes after it received direct requests from Polish citizens to locate and exhume the remains of their family members.
UINP said in a statement: “After reviewing a request submitted in September 2024, we plan to include search operations in the Rivne region in our 2025 work plan.”
It added: “If Polish citizens provide us with the necessary explanations regarding the location of potential search sites, we will try to help them despite the war and difficult economic situation.”
While Warsaw views the events as genocide and ethnic cleansing, Kyiv often disputes this interpretation, with some Ukrainian historians treating the events as a stage in the “second Polish-Ukrainian war of 1942−1947.”
More moderate Ukrainian researchers use the term “Volhynian tragedy.”
UINP head Anton Drobovych said that despite political and historical differences over definitions of the killings, it was “willing to accommodate the interests of Polish citizens and, in exceptional cases, take on the role of coordinator for search activities, with Polish representatives invited as observers.
“The effectiveness of the searches will depend on the availability of specialists and resources.”
UINP plans to issue detailed guidelines on search applications in both Ukrainian and Polish by spring 2025.
