Remains of Polish soldiers killed in 1939 unearthed in Lviv’s Zboishche district during joint exhumation effort
The Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine (MCSC) has reported on Thursday the first results of joint Ukrainian-Polish exhumation works that began on August 4 in the territory of the former village of Stari Zboishcha (now part of Lviv), as a result of which the remains of Polish soldiers who died in 1939 were found.
"As of today, interim results of exhumation works have been recorded in the Zboishcha microdistrict. A burial pit with dead soldiers from the 1939 period has been discovered, the exact number of which will be established after additional study. At the moment, the remains of 6 people have been marked, and research is ongoing. The approximate area of the excavation is 10×5 meters. Also at the site of the work, participants of the joint expedition discovered Polish military buttons, fragments of a military gas mask, one Polish identification token, and items of personal use," the message on the MCSC website says.
The department emphasized that the exhumation works "became possible thanks to the clear coordination of the joint efforts of the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs of the two countries, as well as the Institutes of National Remembrance of Ukraine and Poland." The approximate duration of the works is about four weeks.
"These works have become another stage of the Ukraine-Poland dialogue on issues of common historical memory, designed to strengthen relations between the two strategic partners by properly honoring the memory of Ukrainians and Poles who died as a result of the tragic events of the Second World War," the department said in a statement.
The message appeared the day after Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Taras Kachka reported on his conversation with Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, during which he emphasized that Ukraine seeks a decision by all 27 EU member states on the next steps on the path to membership. The parties also discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation.
On X, Kachka illustrated his own photo, where he is sitting at a table, and in the foreground in front of him are two books by Polish authors in Polish about Poland's policy in Western Ukrainian and Western Belarusian lands in the past. This was noticed in the Polish media and began to be discussed in the blogosphere with accusations against the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister.
As reported, in early May it became known that the remains of 42 people were discovered at the site of exhumation work in the former village of Puzhnyky in the Ternopil region.