Poland's top diplomat said: “People are entitled to a Christian burial, and it doesn’t affect Ukraine’s war effort.”
He was referring to the exhumation of victims of the WWII-era Volhynia Massacre, in which Ukrainian nationalists killed around 100,000 ethnic Poles.
Sikorski added: “I don’t see why [exhumations] should be blocked between countries that help one another.”
Sikorski's remarks reflect the Polish government's increasing focus on historical issues ahead of the presidential elections in May, according to the Financial Times.
The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance has expressed a willingness to resume searches for Polish victims in mass graves next year, a process that was halted in 2017 due to tensions over the removal of a Ukrainian monument in Poland.
Recent polls show that public sentiment in Poland towards Ukraine has worsened, with only 53 percent of respondents supporting the acceptance of Ukrainian refugees, the lowest since the war began, the FT reported.
Sikorski told the FT that while the exhumations may not be a priority for every Pole, the sentiment remains resonant for some.
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Source: IAR/PAP/Financial Times