Ukraine Marks 85th Anniversary of Babi Yar Massacre

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy was joined by Israeli Minister Ze’ev Elkin, ambassadors, Rabbanim and Jewish community representatives at a memorial ceremony for the 85th Anniversary of Babi Yar Massacre.

A special ceremony marking the 85th anniversary of the massacre of Kyiv’s Jews was held on Wednesday at the Babi Yar memorial site, attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior officials and dignitaries from around the world.

Among those taking part were Israeli Minister Ze’ev Elkin, Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Roey Rosenblit, Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan, senior ministers and members of parliament from Ukraine and Germany, ambassadors from several countries, representatives of Jewish communities, and Rabbanim and Chabad shluchim from Kyiv, elsewhere in Ukraine and abroad.

The participants gathered to commemorate the Jews murdered at Babi Yar during the Holocaust.

During the ceremony, a tree was planted in memory of the victims. Harav Yonatan Markovitch, Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Chabad shliach in the city, then recited chapters of Tehillim in memory of the Jews murdered.

In his remarks, Rabbi Markovitch stressed the importance of perpetuating the memory of those murdered at Babi Yar, while highlighting the continued existence and flourishing of Jewish life in Ukraine — precisely in the place where the Nazis sought to destroy Kyiv’s Jewish community.