On September 6, in the Ternopil region, the reburial of the remains of 42 individuals, found during exhumations at the site of the former village of Puzhnyky, took place.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Reburial and the Progress of Exhumation Works
The reburial was organized at the old cemetery of Puzhnyky, precisely where the exhumation was conducted. The burial was carried out according to the Roman Catholic rite. For now, nameless memorial markers have been placed over the graves, as DNA studies are ongoing to establish the identities of the deceased.
Representatives from Poland, led by the Marshal of the Senate, as well as high-ranking Ukrainian officials attended the ceremony. Among them was Oleksandr Alfiorov, the head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, who spoke about the progress of the work and the importance of cooperation between the two countries.
“Finally, after many years, a Polish-Ukrainian working group has been established, which gradually, within its competencies, at the request of the Ministry of Culture of Poland, the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, and both national memory institutes, Polish and Ukrainian, has been step by step developing all positions to enable the exhumation of the victims from the 1940s on the territory of Ukraine and Poland,” noted Oleksandr Alfiorov.
Future Plans for Expeditions in Poland and Ukraine
According to Oleksandr Alfiorov, exhumation excavations are also ongoing in Lviv, as well as in areas of former settlements where mass graves have been discovered. It is planned that the Ukrainian group will begin work in Poland in the near future. The number of sites for research has already been determined on both sides.
Alfiorov emphasizes that the exhumation process has become possible due to years of preparation and cooperation, and its foundation is humanity and honoring the memory of the deceased, rather than political or historical aspects.