PUZHNYKY, Ukraine: Remains of Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalist insurgents during World War Two were buried in western Ukraine on Saturday as officials from both countries looked on, a move to ease a rare strain in relations between the two close allies.
Poland was allowed to exhume the remains in the former Polish village of Puzniki, in present-day Ukraine, earlier this year after longstanding demands from Warsaw over the issue, which has caused friction between the neighboring countries.
With Polish Catholic priests officiating, the simple wooden coffins of 42 Poles, each marked with a cross and flanked by wooden cross, were placed in a long, narrow grave in a wooded, abandoned cemetery.
Lanterns and wreaths draped in Polish red and white and Ukrainian yellow and blue colors were laid alongside.
“The victims of the Puzniki massacre rested in an unmarked grave for decades, but their memory endures for their loved ones and those who fought for this remembrance, truth, and act of elementary justice,” Polish Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska was quoted as saying by state news agency PAP.
“Today’s burial is a restoration of dignity to those who had it stripped from them in the most inhumane way.”
Cienkowska expressed confidence that it would be possible to locate and identify remaining victims, according to PAP.
Survivor Maria Jarzycka-Wroblewska, 90, said groups of men had assured residents they would be safe and then the killings occurred overnight.
“No one in my immediate family was murdered here, but neighbors, friends and even a distant cousin were,” she said.
“Thank God that the Ukrainian authorities and the Poles came to an agreement and this is finally done...You cannot put all Ukrainians in the same basket.”
The abandoned village is among sites where Polish officials say more than 100,000 people were killed by insurgents between 1943 and 1945.
Large swathes of modern-day western Ukraine were under Polish control at the time. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which fought against both Nazi German forces and the Soviet Red Army, is widely held responsible for the killings as part of efforts to limit Polish influence over the area.
The so-called Volhynia massacres have complicated relations even as Poland has backed Ukraine against Russia’s 2022 invasion by supplying weapons and taking in almost a million refugees.
Ukraine has rejected Poland’s description of the killings as “genocide,” saying thousands of Ukrainians were also killed in events that were part of a wider conflict between the neighbors.
The exhumations involving around 20 specialists had been aimed at identifying victims and burying them. Polish officials have called on Ukraine to allow more operations to take place.
Poland buries wartime remains in western Ukraine as part of reconciliation
https://arab.news/pth2w
Poland buries wartime remains in western Ukraine as part of reconciliation
- Poland was allowed to exhume the remains in the former Polish village of Puzniki
- Lanterns and wreaths draped in Polish red and white and Ukrainian yellow and blue colors were laid alongside
Thai villagers stay behind to guard empty homes as border clashes force mass evacuations
- Appointed by the local administration as Village Security Volunteers, they guarded the empty homes after many residents were forced to flee and with fewer security officials stationed nearby than usual
SURIN: Fighting that has flared along the Thai-Cambodian border has sent hundreds of thousands of Thai villagers fleeing from their homes close to the frontier since Monday. Their once-bustling communities have fallen largely silent except for the distant rumble of firing across the fields.
Yet in several of these villages, where normally a few hundred people live, a few dozen residents have chosen to stay behind despite the constant sounds of danger.
In a village in Buriram province, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the border, Somjai Kraiprakon and roughly 20 of her neighbors gathered around a roadside house, keeping watch over nearby homes. Appointed by the local administration as Village Security Volunteers, they guarded the empty homes after many residents were forced to flee and with fewer security officials stationed nearby than usual.
The latest large-scale fighting derailed a ceasefire pushed by US President Donald Trump, which halted five days of clashes in July triggered by longstanding territorial disputes. As of Saturday, around two dozen people had been reported killed in the renewed violence.
At a house on the village’s main intersection, now a meeting point, kitchen and sleeping area, explosions were a regular backdrop, with the constant risk of stray ammunition landing nearby. Somjai rarely flinched, but when the blasts came too close, she would sprint to a makeshift bunker beside the house, built on an empty plot from large precast concrete drainage pipes reinforced with dirt, sandbags and car tires.
She volunteered shortly after the July fighting. The 52-year-old completed a three-day training course with the district administration that included gun training and patrol techniques before she was appointed in November. The volunteer village guards are permitted to carry firearms provided by relevant authorities.
The army has emphasized the importance of volunteers like Somjai in this new phase of fighting, saying they help “provide the highest possible confidence and safety for the public.”
According to the army, volunteers “conduct patrols, establish checkpoints, stand guard inside villages, protect the property of local people, and monitor suspicious individuals who may attempt to infiltrate the area to gather intelligence.”
Somjai said the volunteer team performs all these duties, keeping close watch on strangers and patrolling at night to discourage thieves from entering abandoned homes. Her main responsibility, however, is not monitoring threats but caring for about 70 dogs left behind in the community.
“This is my priority. The other things I let the men take care of them. I’m not good at going out patrolling at night. Fortunately I’m good with dogs,” she said, adding that she first fed a few using her own money, but as donations began coming in, she was able to expand her feeding efforts.
In a nearby village, chief Praden Prajuabsook sat with about a dozen members of his village security team along a roadside in front of a local school. Around there, most shops were already closed and few cars could be seen passing once in a while.
Wearing navy blue uniforms and striped purple and blue scarves, the men and women chatted casually while keeping shotguns close and watching strangers carefully. Praden said the team stationed at different spots during the day, then started patrolling when night fell.
He noted that their guard duty is around the clock, and it comes with no compensation and relies entirely on volunteers. “We do it with our own will, for the brothers and sisters in our village,” he said.
Beyond guarding empty homes, Praden’s team, like Somjai, also ensures pets, cattle and other animals are fed. During the day, some members ride motorbikes from house to house to feed pigs, chickens and dogs left behind by their owners.
Although his village is close to the battlegrounds, Praden said he is not afraid of the sounds of fighting.
“We want our people to be safe… we are willing to safeguard the village for the people who have evacuated,” he said.
