Ministry of Culture confirms Poland can resume WWII massacre searches in Puzhnyky

“We have obtained approval from the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture to conduct searches in Puzhnyky - the next burial site of residents killed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in February 1945,” Marta Cienkowska, Poland’s Minister of Culture, said on Tuesday afternoon.

Polish Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska

Photo courtesy of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage

She added that the work will be carried out by a Polish-Ukrainian expedition involving the Freedom and Democracy Foundation, the Pomeranian Medical University, the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), and the local historical research company Wołyńskie Starożytności.

The search operations are planned to begin in spring 2026.

The Ministry of Culture corroborated earlier reports, initially published by RMF FM and cited by the Polish Radio English Service.

Uzyskaliśmy zgodę ukraińskiego Ministerstwa Kultury na poszukiwania w Puźnikach - kolejnej lokalizacji spoczynku szczątków mieszkańców zamordowanych przez UPA w lutym 1945r.

Rozpoczęcie prac przez polsko-ukraińską ekspedycję z udziałem @FundacjaWiD, @pumszczecin, @ipngovpl oraz…

— Marta Cienkowska (@MartaCienkowska) December 30, 2025

Puzhnyky, a former Polish village in what is now western Ukraine, was the site of a massacre on the night of 12–13 February 1945, when units of the UPA killed between 50 and 120 Polish civilians.

The attack was led by Petro Khamchuk, commander of a UPA unit known as the “Grey Wolves,” and neither he nor his men were ever prosecuted.

These killings were part of the broader Volhynia massacres (1943–1945), which claimed an estimated 100,000 Polish lives. Historians continue to debate whether these events should be classified as genocide.

Read more on this topic:

• Ukraine approves Poland’s search for WWII massacre victims in Puzhnyky

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Source: Polish Radio English Service/X/@MartaCienkowska