Ukraine and Poland complete search work in Ternopil Oblast, no WWII mass graves found

A team of Ukrainian and Polish experts has completed another phase of searches for the remains of people killed during the Second World War at the site of the former village of Puzhnyky in Ternopil Oblast. No mass graves were found.

Source: the specialised institution Volyn Antiquities in a comment to Ukrinform, as reported by European Pravda

Details: During the latest phase of search operations for the remains of residents of the former village of Puzhnyky, experts did not find a mass grave but came across the foundation of a cemetery chapel.

"We preliminarily believe that we have found the foundation of a chapel where the deceased were given funeral services before burial, as well as an outbuilding. We also found stone masonry which may be part of a road," Volyn Antiquities said.

The area of Puzhnyky is to be further examined using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a modern method of scanning the Earth's surface, which is expected to help locate the mass grave. The process of obtaining a permit for the survey is currently underway.

On the Ukrainian side, experts from Volyn Antiquities worked in Puzhnyky. The Polish team comprised experts from the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin and representatives of the Freedom and Democracy Foundation.

Background:

• On 4 November, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance announced the start of search operations for the remains of residents of Puzhnyky.
• Puzhnyky was a former village where ethnic Poles lived in a concentrated community between the two world wars. In February 1945, Puzhnyky came under an armed attack. Archival sources indicate that some of the villagers were tragically killed and the village itself was burned down.
• Exhumation work was carried out here in spring 2025. The remains of 42 people were found and reburied at the old cemetery of Puzhnyky in September 2025.
• In late October 2026, a Ukrainian expedition completed search operations in the village of Łasków in Poland's Lublin Voivodeship. Early estimates indicated that the remains of more than 40 people had been found.

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