The Ukrainian Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Olena Kondratiuk said in an interview with Alina Makarczuk for Ukrayina.pl that “Ukrainians are ready for exhumation,”. The declaration comes after weeks of crisis between Warsaw and Kyiv, which renewed recently but began after the Ukrainian state banned the exhumation process (2017) of the Volhynia Massacre of 1943, perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists. 

Olena Kondratiuk was born in Lviv. Before entering Ukrainian politics, she graduated with a degree in history from the Ivan Frank National University of Lviv and, as part of her studies, went to Poland for a year, where she began to learn the Polish language. Since her country regained independence in the 1990s, she has been a strong supporter of Ukraine’s EU and transatlantic integration. She was a co-founder of the Ukrainian Women’s Congress.

Today she serves as Deputy Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament. She also heads the Ukrainian delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly, which is a practical platform for cooperation between Ukraine and Poland at the level of parliaments and ministries of both countries.

“The Ukrainians are ready for exhumations. We have always said that we are open to this. Our ministries of culture have signed a relevant Polish-Ukrainian memorandum on the matter. In Kyiv, the Minister of Culture has just changed who will also oversee this matter. As Ukrainians, we have lived through too much not to be able to answer this question. We have survived more than one great famine, and to this day Russia is committing genocide in our country in front of the whole world. We know what death is, what murder is. We know the pain that follows loss. That is why I understand the emotions that Volhynia [red – the Volhynia Massacre] evokes in Poles,” Olena Kondratiuk said. 

“It was a dark page in our common history. Before my trip to Warsaw, I talked about Volhynia with many experts in Ukraine. I know that a special working group has been created in Ukraine to deal with exhumations. As far as I know, a special Polish group is also to be created to deal with this. I have also talked about this with representatives of institutions that have been dealing with this issue for a long time. I was assured that they are open to cooperation with the Poles. Ukraine is open to this. It has to be work carried out by professional experts from both countries,” Speaker Kondratiuk assured. 

She also commented on the recent scandal that began after the words of the former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who claimed that somehow Poland and Ukraine share the same responsibility for 2 World War crimes and suggested Ukrainians were deported to Poland from Ukrainian lands during the Akcja Wisła in 1947.

“I think it was an unfortunate statement. But I believe and know that Minister Kuleba certainly did not mean to offend the Poles,” Kondratiuk commented. 

While asked if the unfortunate words were the reason for Kuleba’s resignation, she said: “I think this statement was one of the elements and perhaps became the final dot over the ‘i’. As politicians, we are all responsible for what we say.”

The politician also expressed hope for further development of Polish-Ukrainian relations. 

“We are neighbours and it is clear that we agree on some issues and not quite on others. We can argue and convince each other of our points of view. We can meet and tell each other frankly that the differences of opinion that arise between us are part of life. Differences need not divide us or lead to international crises. Differences are there to be discussed. Competition between countries is evidence of their high development potential and is a result of the geographical location of our countries. It is not a problem, but a common denominator that will be a factor in the future development of our economies,” she said. 

Kondratiuk also referred to the Polish aid for Ukraine and war refugees: 

“Poland is helping as much as it can. And I would like to thank the Poles for this. I will not cease and I will always say that Ukraine remembers this and each of us is grateful to you for this support. Polish military, humanitarian and financial aid to Kyiv already reached six billion dollars. The good is coming back! Because we already know that more than Ukrainians 700,000 work in Poland.”

“Every Ukrainian I know well remembers who took in the most Ukrainian women with children in the first weeks of the full-scale Russian invasion. The attitude of the Poles saved the lives of millions of our children. When Russia was convinced that the Polish government would close the border and Europe would not take in Ukrainians fleeing Russian bombs. We were fortunate that our lifeline and gateway to Europe turned out to be Poland.” Kondratiuk added. 

You can read the full interview in Polish here: Ekshumacje na Wołyniu. „Jesteśmy na to otwarci”. Rozmowa z wicemarszałkinią ukraińskiego parlamentu.

Source: Ukrayina.pl

Tomasz Modrzejewski

Photo: X @Ole_Kondratiuk