The bishops of the three Ukrainian Greek Catholic eparchies in Poland lamented the massacre of some 100,000 Poles by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army between 1943 and 1945. The massacre has helped lead to recent tensions in Polish-Ukrainian relations.
“On the eve of the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Volyn Massacre, we convey words of sympathy and grief to the families who lost their loved ones as a result of Ukrainian military actions,” the bishops said. “We join you in your pain and express our deep regret for the bloody events that took place at that time.”
The bishops also said that “both Ukrainian crimes against Poles and Polish crimes against Ukrainians should be condemned,” and called on Polish and Ukrainian officials to “assist in finding all the graves, in identifying the victims and in their dignified burial.”
“It is up to Polish and Ukrainian historians to reliably explain the circumstances of those tragic events and to determine the actual number of victims on both sides,” the prelates added.