Kyiv – Zelensky commemorates the 85th anniversary of the massacre of the Jews

KYIV, September 29 /ATSH-DPA/ – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today commemorated tens of thousands of Jews killed by the German occupying forces in Kyiv, on the 85th anniversary of the Babyn Yar massacre.

Zelensky took part in a memorial ceremony together with representatives of the Ukrainian government and foreign diplomats.

He said that this tragedy recalls the pain of losing family members and loved ones, as well as the importance of human life.

The Ukrainian president also linked this remembrance to the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 2022.

What happened at Babyn Yar?

Babyn Yar is a ravine near Kyiv which, during the German occupation of Ukraine in the Second World War, became one of the main sites where mass killings of Jews were carried out.

On September 29 and 30, 1941, German forces shot dead 33,771 Jews from Kyiv.

The killings continued afterwards. By the liberation of Kyiv by the Red Army in November 1943, about 100,000 people had been killed in that ravine.

Among the victims were Jews, prisoners of war, members of the resistance, Roma and people with mental illnesses.