A large free-standing menorah in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has been toppled in an antisemitic incident on the first night of Chanukah. 

According to security footage released by Ukrainian police a gang of five young men targeted the giant menorah in the main square of the city and toppled it, breaking the lights on top. 

The city is home to a large Jewish population and the chief rabbi of the city, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, said incidents like this were rare and the community have full confidence in the police in dealing with it. 

“The incident is being examined and local law enforcement is working to apprehend those responsible,” said Kamenetsky to Ynetnews. 

“This is not an ordinary case for Dnipro, it just reminds us that we are still in exile. The city has a large concentration of Jews, thus quite Jewish in nature”

Dnipro is a Jewish hub of Eastern Ukraine and home to the Menorah Centre, the world's largest Jewish cultural centre. 

The Menorah Center is home to a hotel, a hostel, a concert hall, a gallery, a kosher restaurant and a museum on Jewish history and the Holocaust in Ukraine.