These days, social media has been abuzz with the news that in Drohobych, the city’s municipal services damaged ancient tombstones in one of the city’s cemeteries while removing hazardous trees. The cemetery in question is on Truskavetska Street.
The photos that have been circulating on news portals show that certain elements on several tombstones have been damaged.
The cemetery was landscaped and hazardous trees were removed by the Municipal Management Service. They explain that the removal of hazardous trees was carried out with the appropriate permits and documents.
“Yes, a very unfortunate incident occurred, for which we apologize to the Polish community of the city and immediately note that the headstones will be restored. The situation is an unfortunate incident, not an act of vandalism, as it was dubbed in social media. The equipment failed during the work. Since it is impossible to bring a crane to the cemetery, arborists have to use the services of specialists to remove dangerous trees in this cemetery. During the work, the cable failed, so the cut tree fell and damaged the headstones. This situation has already been discussed with representatives of the Polish community in the city. Further work has been suspended for now. However, there are still many old trees in the cemetery that may not withstand a simple deterioration in weather conditions and cause even more damage. We had a similar situation a few years ago,” emphasized Volodymyr Suda, head of SMU.
The Department of Municipal Economy also commented on the unfortunate incident, noting that three monuments were damaged as a result of the work: one had an iron cross bent and partially broken, the second had a split concrete headstone, and the third was partially damaged. Their restoration will be carried out in the near future with the involvement of specialists from an international foundation.
At the same time, the Department urges not to speculate on this topic and not to engage in self-promotion by individual Internet resources.