Ukrainian ambassador in Poland honours Volyn tragedy victims at Warsaw memorial – photos
Ukraine's ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Bodnar, has laid a wreath at the memorial in Wołyński Square in Warsaw on the Day of Remembrance for victims of the Volyn tragedy. [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: European Pravda, citing Ukraine's Embassy in Poland
Details: On 11 July, Vasyl Bodnar joined events honouring the victims of the Volyn tragedy and laid a wreath at the memorial in Warsaw on Ukraine's behalf.
Quote from Bodnar: "It is important for us today, and it is our duty, to honour this memory, to remember history, but also to work to ensure that the future is not troubled, that the future is shared, in a common European home."
More details: Bodnar noted that properly honouring the memory of each victim is a shared duty for both countries.
Quote: "Ukraine advocates for establishing the full historical truth, continuing search and exhumation work, and professional dialogue between historians. Ukraine and Poland have a complicated history, but they also share a common future. That is why we must honour the memory of the victims together, find the truth, and build relations based on respect and trust."
Background:
- Oleksandr Alforov, Head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINR), has emphasised that the search for burial sites of Polish victims of the Volyn tragedy will continue, and he also hopes that the search for Ukrainian dead will begin in two villages in Poland.
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in his address on the National Day of Remembrance for victims of the Volyn tragedy, stressed the need to maintain solidarity "based on truth, memory and hope", and said that memory cannot be a tool of hatred.
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