Ukraine sets out one condition for issuing exhumation permits to Poland

This is reported by Evropeyska Pravda (European Truth) citing Polish Radio.

On Monday, the Head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance Anton Drobovych met in Kyiv with the head of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, Jarosław Szarek. According to Drobovych, the Ukrainian side expects the restoration of the memorial plate on Mount Monastir in the form that it was before its destruction. First of all, we are talking about the list of UPA soldiers who fell in the fight against the NKVD.

If this happens, Ukraine and Poland will exchange permits for three places where it will be possible to conduct search operations.

"Hołosko, Zboiska and Huta Pieniatska are the places that Poland is asking about. As soon as the table in the monastery is restored to its original form, in accordance with Polish and international law, the exchange will take place. We are currently preparing these permits at the level of ministries of culture, institutes of national memory and interdepartmental committees. We want to get to the point where everything is ready, and it remains only to exchange permits as soon as the table in the monastery is restored," Drobovych said.

Last year, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to lift the ban imposed by the previous Ukrainian authorities on exhumation and search for the remains of Polish victims on the territory of Ukraine, which was a response to the demolition of the UPA monument in Hrushovichi in Subcarpathia.

The first search operations in Lviv resumed in November last year. The Ukrainian side stipulated the issuance of the following permits for the restoration of the grave of UPA soldiers in the Monastery, which was desecrated in January this year. The destroyed tombstone has been recently restored but without a list of names of UPA soldiers who died in battles with the Soviet NKVD.

In a conversation with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed hope that the Polish side will complete work on restoring the grave of UPA soldiers on Mount Monastir in Poland.

As RISU has reported, a new slab with other inscriptions has been installed on the destroyed grave of UPA soldiers in Poland.
Now a new memorial plate with different inscriptions has been installed on the grave of UPA soldiers, to replace the one completely destroyed in January 2020.

The new granite slab is engraved with an inscription in Polish and Ukrainian: "Mass grave of Ukrainians who died in the battle with the Soviet NKVD in the monastery forests on the night of March 2-3, 1945."

On the previous memorial plate, which was slightly larger in size, there was an inscription: "They gave their lives for a free Ukraine" and the names, surnames and year of birth of all 62 victims were indicated.

Background reference

The grave of 62 UPA soldiers, two stone crosses from the 1940s with carved images of a trident, as well as a monument are located on Mount Monastir near the village of Verkhrata in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship of Poland, near the border with Ukraine. Vandals smashed a memorial plaque on the grave in 2015 and completely destroyed it in January this year.

The restoration of the destroyed memorial plaque on Mount Monastir was a prerequisite for the consent of the Ukrainian side to conduct search and exhumation works in Polish places of remembrance in Ukraine.

The earliest possible restoration of the memorial plaque was also discussed during a recent meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish President Andrzej Duda.