Poland has issued permission for search work in Laskow. The burials of Ukrainian civilians will be searched there

Poland has granted permission to a Ukrainian expedition to conduct search work in the village of Lasków, Lublin Voivodeship, at the site of the alleged burial of Ukrainian civilians during World War II. The Ukrainian side received the document only today, and the details are still unknown.

This was told to Radio Liberty by the head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance Oleksandr Alfyorov.

The search work will be carried out by the Memorial and Search Center "Dolya" commissioned by the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.

According to Deputy Minister of Culture Ivan Verbytsky, the fact that Ukraine received permission is the result of agreements reached by the Ukrainian-Polish working group on dignified burials, which operates at the initiative of the ministries of culture of both countries.

What happened in Laskow?

The tragedy in the village of Lasków in the Kholm region (now Lublin Voivodeship, Poland) occurred on March 10, 1944. The Polish underground formation "Peasant Battalions" and a battalion of the Home Army attacked the village and, according to various estimates, killed more than 330 Ukrainians. Including women, children, and elderly peasants. The Orthodox priest Lev Korobchuk was killed.

On the same day, armed Polish troops attacked the Ukrainian village of Sagryn, near Laskow. According to Ukrainian researchers, 621 Ukrainians were killed there, including children, women, and the elderly. Last year, Ukraine asked Poland for permission to conduct search and exhumation work in Sagryn, but no response has been received yet.

Relations between Poland and Ukraine in the context of exhumations

After Ukraine gained independence, the issue of the Volyn tragedy was repeatedly raised by politicians in both countries. Ukraine and Poland held joint events to honor the victims and tried to find points of understanding. However, after Poland recognized the Volyn tragedy as genocide in 2016, discussions intensified.

In response to the destruction of Ukrainian monuments in Poland, Ukraine imposed a moratorium on the exhumation of Polish graves. Despite agreements in 2020 and 2022 on cooperation in the field of historical memory, the issue remained unresolved.

In 2023, Ukraine allowed joint research of the burials in Puzhnyky, but Poland has still not fulfilled Kyivʼs request to restore the memorial plaque on the grave of UPA soldiers on Monastyr Mountain.

In January 2025, Ukraine allowed the exhumation of the bodies of Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy for the first time. And in May, the exhumation of the victims of 1945 was completed in the Ternopil region — in Poland it was called a breakthrough.

Ukraine has also begun excavations in the village of Yurechkova, while Poland has already carried out work in Lviv, Ugly, Huta Peniatska, Ostrivki, and Wola Ostrowiecska.

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