In Lviv, another 89 bodies of soldiers were exhumed at the Holosko Velyke cemetery, seven of which belonged to the Wehrmacht.
This was reported by the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.
The other bodies belong to Polish soldiers. The exhumation work is being carried out by the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, specialists from "Ukrainian Memory", as well as employees of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance and the Medical University of Wroclaw.
They will last from August 25 to October 2, 2026.
Why are the remains of Polish soldiers being searched here?
In September 1939, fierce battles were fought in the suburbs of Lviv between units of the Wehrmacht and the Polish Army. One of the places of hostilities was the territory of the village of Holosko Velyke, located near Lviv.
The Polish Army soldiers who died in the battle were buried in a mass grave in the village cemetery. In 1958, the village of Holosko Velyke became part of the city of Lviv.
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 the 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.
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