Exhumations of remains of civilians, residents of the erstwhile village of Puźniki, will begin on 24 April 2025. I think the full process will take about 3 weeks. – handed over to Alina Charlamov.
The female pointed out that as many as 79 people may remainder on the basis of witness reports and available papers in mass graves in Puźniki. At the same time, she pointed out that there was no certainty that all the victims could be found. After exhumation, the remains of the bodies found will be examined by anthropologists who find the age of the victims, their sex and possible bone damage.
DNA tests will be carried out, and they will be compared with DNA tests of relatives of those deceased. DNA samples have already been taken from relatives by our Polish partners – said Charlamowa.
A Troubled Way
The works in Puźniki will be attended by 7 representatives of the Ukrainian Volynsky Antiquity Foundation, which on 8 January received approval from the Ukrainian authorities to conduct the search. Polish representatives of the Pomeranian branch of the IPN and the Freedom and Democracy Foundation will participate in the research.
As Charmalowska informed, it will not be easy to get to the destination. There's no way. There's no way to the old cemetery. She said. However, she stressed that the local authorities offered support to the search team.
Polish diplomats from the Polish Consulate in Lutsk were present during a Wednesday visit to the site of future search work.
Poland is waiting for further approval
The decision to abolish the moratorium on the search and exhumation of the remains of Polish victims of the Volyn crime, which had been in force since 2017, was announced in late November 2024 at a joint press conference of abroad ministers of Poland and Ukraine, Radosław Sikorski and Andrija Sybiha. The Ukrainian side then indicated that There are no obstacles for the conduct of search and exhumation work by Polish state and private institutions in cooperation with applicable Ukrainian institutions, in accordance with Ukrainian law. Ukraine besides declared readiness to examine the proposals positively.
Other Polish institutions have late made or renewed requests for search work in various locations in Ukraine, which were submitted years ago. He reported Republic Ukrainian archaeologist Oleksiy Złatohorski, it is about 17 places to conduct research. According to his opinion, the appropriate approvals of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine are missing for the time being, but should be issued soon, as affirmative opinions on the location are already from the Volynian and Khmelnytsky regional authorities where these locations are located.
