Polish politician claims there are "illegal excavations" taking place in Ukraine

Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party, has claimed that illegal excavations are allegedly being conducted at the sites of former Polish villages in Ukraine.

Source: Onet, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Kaczyński claimed that "illegal excavations" are taking place in the historical and geographical region in the west of Ukraine that Poland referred to as "Eastern Galicia".

"Illegal excavations at the sites of former Polish villages in Eastern Galicia are indeed taking place," he said.

Kaczyński claims that "disrespect for the remains of the dead and the looting of victims' valuables (...) by so-called 'black diggers' for financial gain is reportedly taking place with the tacit consent of the local Ukrainian authorities".

He said that his party would appeal "to the most important state authorities of the Republic of Poland, in particular the Ministry of Foreign Affairs".

"We will demand explanations and a response to this criminal activity," he said.

However, it is currently unclear which specific cases or incidents Kaczyński was referring to.

Background:

• On 7 August, Poland's Institute of National Remembrance announced the completion of exhumation works involving victims of the Volyn tragedy in two former villages in Volyn. [The Volyn (Volhynia) tragedy is a series of events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Polish and Ukrainian populations in 1943. The tragedy was part of a long-standing rivalry between Ukrainians and Poles in what is now Ukraine's west.]
• Last year, after a several-year hiatus, Ukraine restored the possibility of conducting searches and exhumations of Polish victims on its territory. Since then, victims of the tragic events of the 20th century in Puzhnyky have been exhumed and reburied, as have the remains of Polish soldiers killed during the September Campaign of 1939.

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