Ukraine marks anniversary of WWII Jewish massacre

By: AFP
Published: 05:54 AM, 30 Sep, 2023
Ukraine marks anniversary of WWII Jewish massacre
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday visited the site of the Babi Yar massacre to mark the 82nd anniversary of one of the largest mass murders of Jews in the Holocaust.

Zelensky, dressed in his usual olive-green attire, placed a candle at the historic site and said Ukraine would "never" forget the tragedy perpetrated by Nazi Germany.

"No matter how many years have passed, humanity will remember the lives taken by Nazism," Zelensky, who is of Jewish descent, said in a statement on social media.

"And it will always remember that this evil was punished."

On September 29-30, 1941, around 34,000 adults and children, most of them Jews, were killed at the Babi Yar ravine outside Nazi-occupied Kyiv, the capital of ex-Soviet Ukraine.

Babi Yar, also called Babyn Yar, was the scene of mass executions until 1943. Up to 100,000 people were killed there, including Jews, Roma, and Soviet prisoners of war.

Ukraine marks the grim anniversary as Russia's invasion of the pro-Western country drags into its second year.

In June, Kyiv launched a counter-offensive but has acknowledged slow progress as its forces encounter lines of heavily fortified Russian defences.

Categories : World