In a Twitter post, he thanked the culture ministers of Poland and Ukraine "for fruitful cooperation" and expressed hope for further resolutions on the matter.
“Finally, a breakthrough,” said Tusk.
“Decisions have been made regarding the first exhumations of Polish victims of the UPA [Ukrainian Insurgent Army]. I would like to thank the culture ministers of Poland and Ukraine for their fruitful cooperation. We await further decisions.”
On Dec. 17, 2024, Tusk, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stated that there is "obvious progress" between Poland and Ukraine on historical issues, including the Volhynia tragedy.
On July 24, 2024, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz suggested that Warsaw could not agree to Ukraine's EU accession until disputes over the events in Volhynia during WWII are resolved.
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.