Ukraine commemorated the 83rd anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedywith President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that it is a “terrifying symbol” of what can happen when the world “lacks the determination to stand up against evil.”
The Babyn Yar tragedy was a mass murder of nearly 34,000 Jews by Nazi forces over two days in September 1941, near Kyiv, as part of the Holocaust.
Estimates put the total death toll, which also includes Soviet prisoners of war and the Romani people, at over 100,000.
In 2023, Zelensky commemorated the anniversary at the site of the massacre in Kyiv with members of the Jewish community.
Zelensky emphasized how the Nazis indiscriminately targeted men, women, and children, forcing them to walk down what was later called “the Road of Death” to the Babyn Yar ravine.
“The scale of this evil is still hard to perceive,” he added.
“When the eyes of the world are closed, humanity loses. We must defend ourselves against evil.”
