Experts Find No Mass Grave at Puzhnyky Site
A Ukrainian-Polish team searching the former village in Ternopil Oblast located a chapel foundation but no mass grave.
Updated on Nov. 8, 2026 in Emergency Response
A team of Ukrainian and Polish experts completed another search phase at the former village of Puzhnyky in Ternopil Oblast without finding a mass grave. Experts did find the foundation of a cemetery chapel, an outbuilding foundation and stone masonry that may be part of a road.
Why it matters
The search is part of efforts to locate remains tied to a February 1945 armed attack on the village, which was burned. Exhumation work in spring 2025 had already recovered the remains of 42 people, later reburied in September 2025.
The search phase completed without locating a mass grave, while earlier spring 2025 exhumation work recovered 42 people's remains from the site. The precise location of the mass grave has not been identified.
The players
Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance
A Ukrainian state institution responsible for researching and preserving records of the country's twentieth-century history and related remembrance efforts.
Volyn Antiquities
A Ukrainian organization of heritage and archaeology specialists that carried out the Ukrainian side's field work at Puzhnyky.
Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin
A Polish public medical university in Szczecin whose experts participated in the Polish team's search at Puzhnyky.
The details
Experts from Volyn Antiquities on the Ukrainian side and the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin and the Freedom and Democracy Foundation on the Polish side conducted the search at Puzhnyky. The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance announced the start of search operations on 4 November, and experts plan to survey the area with LiDAR to locate the grave.
Timeline
February 1945: Armed attack on Puzhnyky, after which the village was burned.
Spring 2025: Exhumation work recovered the remains of 42 people.
September 2025: The 42 remains were reburied at the old cemetery of Puzhnyky.
4 November: The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance announced the start of search operations.
8 November: The search phase was completed without finding a mass grave.
Seasonal Patterns
The Puzhnyky search continues the joint Polish-Ukrainian exhumation effort that began with recovery work at sites of wartime killings in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during the 1943-1945 period. The Łasków search in Poland, which recovered more than 40 people's remains, shows the same cross-border method being applied to a parallel case.
Residents and visitors near Ternopil Oblast should follow local advisories when visiting search areas. Readers seeking to follow the work can monitor announcements from the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.
The takeaway
Joint cross-border excavation work can recover the remains of victims of historical violence and return them to proper burial. Continued cooperation between Ukrainian and Polish teams is central to locating the Puzhnyky grave.
What happens next
Experts are awaiting a permit to conduct a LiDAR survey of the Puzhnyky area to locate the mass grave.
Further reading
For related coverage of disaster-response efforts, see Emergency Response.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Українська правда.
