Ukrainian-Polish group on history to hold first meeting in Aug

Ukraine's Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Zvarych said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"I believe that the only recipe for solving these problems is an open and sincere dialogue that should take place between the relevant institutions in Ukraine and Poland and historians. We should jointly research the topic and jointly determine the facts and circumstances of the events of that time. We are moving towards this: the first meeting of the newly created working group at the level of deputy ministers of culture of Ukraine and Poland will be held in August," Zvarych said.

He noted that the working group had been created as part of a memorandum signed last year between the ministries of culture of the two countries. The group should settle all issues in the field of national memory.

"We have great hopes for the work of this group, which will allow us to depoliticize this topic to a large extent and to transfer it to the direction of practical and professional cooperation," the ambassador said.

Zvarych added that the group would be headed by Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy Kateryna Chuieva and Poland's Deputy Minister of Culture and National Heritage Jaroslaw Sellin.

One of the most controversial topics in Ukrainian-Polish relations is the Volyn tragedy. The views of Kyiv and Warsaw on the causes, responsibility and number of casualties on both sides are somewhat different. Poland insists that the Ukrainian side bears all responsibility for the crimes committed in Volyn in 1943-1945. Instead, Ukraine insists that both parties bear responsibility and the apology must be mutual.