The State Interdepartmental Commission for the Commemoration of Participants of the Anti-Terrorist Operation, Victims of War and Political Repressions has made a decision to conduct exhumation research in several regions of Ukraine, reports the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINP).
"In execution of the agreements reached by the Ukrainian-Polish Working Group on Issues of National Remembrance, the Commission approved the conduct of exhumation research on the territory of the former village of Huta Pieniacka (currently within the Pidkamin settlement territorial hromada of Zolochiv district, Lviv region)," the UINP statement reads.
Also, as part of measures to preserve memory sites of the Polish people in Ukraine, the conduct of exhumation research of the burials of persons who died or went missing during World War II on the territory of the village of Uhly of Sarny urban hromada, Sarny district, Rivne region, was approved.
In a separate decision, the Commission supported granting permission for the sampling of genetic material (DNA) from remains buried in 1992–2015 in the cemetery of the former village of Ostrówki (currently within the Rivne rural hromada of Kovel district, Volyn region).
In addition, the conduct of exhumation research was approved: on the territory of the Memorial to Soviet Soldiers in the settlement of Mlyniv, Dubno district, Rivne region; of burials of World War II victims on the territory of the settlement of Borodianka, Bucha district, Kyiv region; of the remains of Soviet servicemen from World War II and the post-war period in the city of Kremenets, Ternopil region; and of the remains of Soviet servicemen from World War II and the post-war period in the city of Volodymyr, Volyn region.
As reported, in early May 2025, it became known that the remains of 42 people were found at the exhumation site in the former village of Puźniki in Ternopil region. On September 6, the bodies were reburied.
Also, a joint Ukrainian-Polish expedition carried out search and exhumation work in Lviv (Stari Zboishcha), during which a mass burial of World War II victims was discovered. On November 14, 2025, the bodies of the fallen soldiers of the Polish Army were reburied in Mostyska, Lviv region.
In addition, at the end of September 2025, search operations were conducted at the site of possible burials of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) fighters in the village of Jureczkowa, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland. No burials were found there.
In mid-December 2025, the Ukrainian-Polish Working Group on Historical Memory outlined plans for search and exhumation work for 2026. In particular, searches and exhumations were planned on the Ukrainian side: in Uhly (completed), as well as on the territory of the former villages of Huta Pieniacka and Ostrówki, while in Poland, similar work was planned in Sahryń and Łasków.
On March 27, 2026, search operations in the village of Uhly, Rivne region, conducted jointly by a Ukrainian-Polish expedition, were completed. Mass burials were not found.
On June 18, search operations at the mass burial site of victims of the 1944 events in the village of Huta Pieniacka, Lviv region, were completed; a mass grave with an area of about 70 square meters was found in it, but the exhumation of the people buried there was postponed to next year.
At the end of June, a new phase of searching for the remains of village residents who died tragically in February 1945 was underway on the territory of the former village of Puźniki (currently within the village of Sadove, Koropets settlement hromada, Chortkiv district, Ternopil region).
In July, research was to be conducted on the territory of the former villages of Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka (currently within the Rivne rural hromada, Kovel district, Volyn region) aimed at the exhumation and subsequent reburial of the remains of residents of these villages who died in August 1943. In the process of exhumation research on the territory of the former village of Wola Ostrowiecka, the remains of 48 people were found, and on the territory of the former village of Ostrówki, the remains of 6 people were found.
In early August, the Polish side submitted a list of locations for further search and exhumation operations on the territory of Ukraine.
