Exhumation of victims of Volyn tragedy to begin in Ukraine: what is known
Kyiv • UNN
20 Polish and Ukrainian experts will exhume the victims in the village of Puznyky in late April. The work will last for a month and will include anthropological and genetic research.

About 20 people are exhuming the victims of the Volyn tragedy in the village of Puznyky in western Ukraine. This will include a dozen Poles and several experts from Ukraine. The Freedom and Democracy Foundation, which is responsible for this work, is finalizing the formation of the mission, which is scheduled to begin in late April. This was reported by RMF FM, according to UNN.
Details
In addition to representatives of the Freedom and Democracy Foundation, the team will include anthropologists, archaeologists, forensic experts and a geneticist. The mission will be led by experts from the Medical University of Pomerania in Szczecin, headed by Professor Andrzej Ossowski.
It is noted that representatives of the Institute of National Remembrance have also expressed their willingness to travel. It is being determined in what capacity they will participate in this work. In addition to them, there will also be Ukrainian experts and representatives of the Society of Volyn Antiquities, which cooperates with the Freedom and Democracy Foundation.
What should these works look like?
The trip is scheduled for the second half of April. A scientific base with tents will be set up at the site. The team plans to stay in one of the nearest hotels.
The individual skeletons will be examined on site by anthropologists. This involves determining the age, sex and cause of death - among other things, it is necessary to determine whether it was "violent". DNA samples will also be collected for comparative study.
For many months, specialists from Pomeranian Medical University have been collecting genetic material from the descendants of the villagers from which the people found in Puznyky originated. According to the plan, the exhumation work will last about a month.
The Democracy and Freedom Foundation pays for them from its own funds, but claims to be funded. The cost of the April trip is estimated at several hundred thousand zlotys.
The murder of the residents of Puznyky village took place in February 1945, and about 80 people died. After the research, it is planned to rebury the victims and commemorate the site.
Addendum
Since the spring of 2017, Warsaw and Kyiv have been in dispute over the ban on the search and exhumation of the remains of Polish victims of wars and conflicts in Ukraine, imposed by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory. The ban was issued after the dismantling of the UPA monument in Hruszowice in April 2017.
The decision to lift the moratorium on the search for and exhumation of the remains of Polish victims of the Volyn crime, which had been in effect since 2017, was announced in late November 2024 during a joint press conference by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Poland and Ukraine Radoslaw Sikorski and Andriy Sybiga.
At that time, Ukraine confirmedthat "there are no obstacles to the conduct of search and exhumation works on the territory of Ukraine by Polish state institutions and private structures in cooperation with the relevant Ukrainian institutions, in accordance with Ukrainian legislation" and stated "readiness to positively consider requests on these issu