The head of Ukraine's Institute of National Remembrance, Oleksandr Alfiorov, told public broadcaster Polish Radio that Bandera is not among thousands of Ukrainian independence activists whose remains are being considered for exhumation and reburial in Ukraine.
Alfiorov said Ukraine was working on plans to rebury the remains of at least 11,000 figures associated with the country's independence movement, but stressed that Bandera is not included in those efforts.
He added that relocating Bandera's remains would also be difficult because of the position of his family, Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported on Wednesday.
"As far as I know, the family's view is that Bandera's remains should not be moved during the war," Alfiorov told Polish Radio, referring to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
He said he had not discussed the issue with Bandera's relatives personally.
The comments came in response to reports in Polish media suggesting that Bandera's remains could be exhumed from his grave in Munich and transferred to a planned Pantheon of Outstanding Ukrainians in Kyiv.
Asked about the issue by Ukrainian media on Tuesday, Alfiorov did not rule out considering Bandera in the future, saying authorities were examining the cases of many historical figures, including the wartime nationalist leader.
Bandera, who led a radical, militant faction of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), remains one of the most divisive figures in Polish-Ukrainian relations.
Many Ukrainians regard him as a symbol of the struggle for national independence, while in Poland he is widely associated with the nationalist movement whose members carried out mass killings of Poles during World War II.
Many Polish historians hold Bandera politically responsible for the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and neighbouring regions between 1943 and 1945, in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed.
Ukraine has recently launched a broader effort to repatriate and rebury prominent independence activists, including leading members of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, the IAR news agency reported.
(gs)
Source: IAR