Speaking in the town of Mostyska, western Ukraine, Cienkowska described the burials as a "significant step" and indicated that further exhumation projects were planned.
"We are in talks with the Ukrainian side to expand this area of exhumations and our historical memory," she told reporters.
The minister attended the burial ceremony, which included a Roman Catholic mass, for the remains of Polish soldiers initially interred in Lviv-Zboiska and exhumed in August.
Cienkowska added that discussions on additional exhumations would take place during a scheduled meeting of the Polish-Ukrainian working group later on Friday.
She noted that Poland currently has permission to conduct searches in the village of Uhly in the Rivne region, with reconnaissance planned before the end of this year or early next year, and full exhumation work expected to begin in spring.
Poland is also negotiating with Ukraine over exhumation work in Huta Pieniacka in the Lviv region, which, along with Uhly, is considered a priority location for these efforts, Cienkowska said.
Relations between Poland and Ukraine have long been strained over the historical memory of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and other nationalist groups responsible for mass killings of Polish civilians during 1943–45.
Since spring 2017, a ban on searching for and exhuming Polish war victims in Ukraine had blocked investigations, following the removal of a UPA monument in Hruszowice, southeastern Poland.
The moratorium was lifted in November 2024, when both countries’ foreign ministers confirmed Ukraine’s support for Polish-led exhumations in line with Ukrainian law.
Earlier this year, Polish authorities carried out exhumations in Puzhnyky (Puźniki) in present-day Ternopil region, where Ukrainian nationalists killed between 50 and 120 Polish civilians in February 1945.
Since then, Poland has carried out exhumations in Puzhnyky the Ternopil region, recovering the remains of at least 42 civilians murdered in 1945.
In Lviv-Zboiska, teams uncovered the remains of at least 31 Polish soldiers, who had taken part in the defence of Lviv, fighting German forces advancing from the north in mid-September 1939.
Many had served in units such as the 10th Cavalry Brigade under Stanisław Maczek or forces commanded by General Kazimierz Sosnkowski.
The newly identified soldiers were laid to rest at the Polish war cemetery in Mostyska, where similar burials took place in 2015 and 2016.
(ał)
Source: PAP