The announcement was made by Polish historian Maciej Dancewicz, the deputy head of the Freedom and Democracy foundation.
The organization identified the excavation site two years ago and has finally received permission from Ukrainian authorities to exhume the remains and conduct further studies. The primary aim of the exhumation is to identify the deceased individuals whose remains were found in a pit near a former cemetery.
Dancewicz stated that after the excavation, Polish archaeologists and anthropologists will study the remains. Specialists are currently collecting genetic samples from descendants.
Following the investigations, the victims will be reburied.
On Jan. 11, Ukraine's Deputy Culture Minister, Andriy Nadzhos, announced that Ukraine and Poland had exchanged lists of sites for the exhumation of victims of "mutual historical conflicts."
On Jan. 10, Polish PM Donald Tusk said there was a “breakthrough” decision regarding the exhumation of Polish victims of the Volyn Massacre.
The Volhynia Massacres occurred in 1943, when the Polish Home Army and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army carried out, according to Ukrainian researchers, mutual ethnic cleansings of Poles and Ukrainians. As a result, over 100,000 Poles and 40,000 Ukrainians were killed in Volhynia. Witnesses of those events noted the brutal methods used by both sides.