Ukraine: Bykivnia WWII graves vandalised
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
25.01.2017 13:27
Graves at a WWII cemetery in Bykivnia, north-central Ukraine, where thousands of Polish officers are buried, were vandalised with red paint overnight.
National Historical-Memorial Complex in Bykivnia. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Buried at the cemetery near Kiev are tens of thousands of victims of totalitarianism.
The vandals also attempted to destroy the entrance to the Polish war cemetery, the director of the site told the PAP news agency.
The incident took place on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, and the paint was noticed in the morning. Local police have started an investigation at the site, the cemetery director said.
He added: "The Ukrainian and Polish part of the cemetery was [vandalised] with oil paint. In the Polish section of the site, the words ‘SS Galizien’ were painted, and the Ukrainian site was inscribed with the words ‘OUN-UPA’." The latter refers to the WWII-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
“There was also an attempt to destroy the [columns at the] entrance to the Polish part of the cemetery. Someone tried to topple them with a crowbar. One column tilted, while nothing happened to the other,” he added.
The incident follows the recent vandalisation of another WWII monument in Ukraine. The Polish foreign ministry demanded that the destruction of a monument to Poles murdered in 1944 in the village of Huta Pieniacka in Ukraine should be examined by authorities.
(rg)