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Polish president about Volyn tragedy: We have been talking to Zelenskyy for long time, calmly and constructively

Wednesday, 15 January 2025, 18:29
Polish president about Volyn tragedy: We have been talking to Zelenskyy for long time, calmly and constructively
Andrzej Duda and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: KPRP

Polish President Andrzej Duda has called for the historical contradictions between Kyiv and Warsaw, including the events in Volyn, to be resolved calmly and constructively. [The Volyn (Volhynia) tragedy was a series of events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Polish and Ukrainian populations in 1943 during World War II. It was part of a long-standing rivalry between Ukrainians and Poles in what is now Ukraine's west. Poland considers the Volyn tragedy a genocide of Poles – ed.]

Source: Duda at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Warsaw on 15 January; European Pravda 

Details: Duda noted that the talks with Zelenskyy raised historical issues, a topic that "we have never avoided during our meetings".

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Quote: "Now negotiations are underway in a working group set up by the ruling coalition (of Poland - ed.) and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine regarding these historical and search and exhumation works."

Details: The Polish president expressed hope that the requests from the Polish side regarding the exhumation of the victims of the events in Volyn "will be considered and approved".

Quote: "This is not a new topic, and we have been talking about it with the president for a long time, and the talk is calm and constructive. It's not a secret that this is a difficult topic that needs to be resolved calmly."

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Background: 

  • On 10 January, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that a decision had been made to conduct the first exhumations of the victims of the Volyn tragedy in Ukraine, though he did not elaborate.
  • Commenting on Tusk's statement, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha expressed hope for "further implementation of agreements with mutual respect and reciprocity".

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