Verification within Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program
Russian propagandists are actively spreading photos of destroyed monuments to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army soldiers in the Polish village of Verkhata. The destroyed monuments in October 2024 are allegedly part of a Polish effort to combat the glorification of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army among Ukrainian migrants living in Poland. The Russians also claim that this led to Ukraine’s refusal to exhume the victims of the Volyn Tragedy.
However, this is manipulation. The photo being circulated by Russian Telegram channels was taken back in 2016, when monuments to Ukrainian Insurgent Army soldiers were indeed destroyed. Furthermore, Ukraine has not refused the exhumation of the victims of the Volyn Tragedy.
Screenshot of the post
Using key search terms, we found photos of the destroyed Ukrainian Insurgent Army monuments being spread by the Russians. The incident took place in 2016, when vandals destroyed a monument in the village of Verkhata in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship.
Screenshot of the news about the destruction of UIA monuments in Poland in 2016
The Russian claims that the destruction of the monuments is the reason for Ukraine’s refusal to exhume the bodies of Volyn Tragedy victims are false.
The Volyn Tragedy refers to the mass killings of Polish and Ukrainian civilians committed in 1943-1944 in the Volyn region, primarily by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Polish Home Army. The conflict began in the 1920s due to discriminatory policies of the Polish government, which controlled part of Ukrainian lands. The Polish authorities promised to respect the rights of Ukrainians but actually closed Ukrainian schools and forced Orthodox inhabitants to convert to Catholicism. This led to uprisings among Ukrainians, and later the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) was founded, whose members opposed the Polish government’s policies and sought to restore Ukraine’s independence. Eventually, this led to ethnic cleansings on both sides.
According to estimates by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, there were about 30,000 Polish victims and 10,000 Ukrainian victims. Historian Bohdan Hud adds: “In total, Polish losses, according to domestic researchers, amounted to 35-40 thousand people […] Currently, Ukrainian historians estimate our victims at about 20,000 people.“
At the end of August 2024, Poland asked Ukraine for permission to exhume Polish victims who died during the Volyn Tragedy of 1943-1944 for identification and reburial. This issue remains sensitive for both countries due to historical contradictions over World War II events. Warsaw insists on conducting the exhumations as part of historical justice and honoring the victims. Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz even threatened to block Ukraine’s EU membership if this issue is not resolved.
Despite the complexity of historical relations, Ukraine has not outright refused the exhumation of Volyn Tragedy victims. On October 1, 2024, the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory announced plans to conduct search operations for Volyn Tragedy victims in 2025 in response to requests from Polish citizens. On October 2, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated that they had discussed “specific technical, not political steps, to finally resolve the exhumation issue” with Poland. These steps demonstrate Ukraine’s desire to overcome historical differences and strengthen relations with Warsaw.
The propagandist claims about Ukraine refusing dialogue with Poland on the topic of exhumations due to the destruction of Ukrainian Insurgent Army monuments mislead people and are aimed at increasing tension between the two countries. Such manipulations once again confirm the Russian intention to use sensitive historical issues as a tool to provoke interethnic conflicts.
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