Zelenskyy sent a message on day Ukraine and Poland commemorate those killed during World War II in Volyn
Kyiv • UNN
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that exhumation work in Volyn will begin in two days. Ukraine is interested in accelerating search efforts to establish the facts of the deaths of civilians during World War II. He also emphasized the common threat from Russia to Ukraine and Poland.
Ukraine is doing its part for an honest establishment of the facts regarding those killed during the Second World War in Volyn, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in his traditional evening address on Saturday, on the day Ukraine and Poland commemorate the victims of the tragic events of the Ukrainian-Polish confrontation during the Second World War, adding that "we must not forget what is happening now," reports UNN.
Details
"The moral significance of this day, July 11, is important. On this day every year, Poland and Ukraine commemorate the people – civilians who were killed during the Second World War in Volyn. Today, representatives of the Ukrainian state took part in joint prayers with representatives of the Polish state – both here in Ukraine and in Poland. Ukraine is doing its part for an honest establishment of the facts regarding those killed in those years: search operations are being conducted where villages were and where the dead were. Ukraine is interested in accelerating them," Zelenskyy stated.
The President noted that "in just two days, exhumation work will begin on the territory of the villages of Ostrovky and Volya Ostrovetska." "Full truth and Christian commemoration of the fallen are what is needed," he added.
"We must not forget what is happening now, in our time, Ukraine and Poland have one common threat, and it is a mortal threat to our independence, to our states, to every city, to every village, and this threat is called russia. Speaking about what was, we must not question the future of our peoples – the future of Ukraine, Poland, the future of all our Europe," Zelenskyy emphasized.
Addition
On July 10, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance reported that from July 13, 2026, on the territory of the former villages of Ostrovky and Volya Ostrovetska (now within the Rivne rural hromada of the Kovel district of the Volyn region), research will be conducted for the purpose of exhumation and subsequent reburial of the remains of residents of these villages who died in August 1943. The work will last until August 7, 2026.
The exhumation research will be carried out by the limited liability company "Specialized Institution 'Volyn Antiquities'" with the participation of Polish specialists: employees of the Institute of National Remembrance of the Republic of Poland and the Wroclaw Medical University.
On July 11, the Ministry of Culture reported that Ukraine and Poland in Olyka, Volyn region, honored the memory of the victims of the tragic events of the Ukrainian-Polish confrontation during the Second World War.