Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial on Thursday to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the Babyn Yar Massacre, where approximately 33,771 Jews were murdered in two days in September, 1941.

Today, Volodomyr Zelensky visited two Babyn Yar memorials, marking the 81st anniversary of when Nazi forces killed over 30,000 Jews in just two days pic.twitter.com/kh0iy5oO9K

— The Jewish Chronicle (@JewishChron) September 29, 2022

Zelensky, who is himself Jewish, laid flowers and a memorial lamp next to the Menorah-shaped monument to honour the victims, made up of Jews, Roma, and Ukrainians.

He said: “Any inhumane regimes pose a threat to all humanity. Criminals who cause such tragedies must be punished so that dictators and tyrants are reluctant to repeat something similar in the future.”

Zelensky also heard from the leaders of the Babyn Yar National Historical and Memorial Reserve, and watched an installation about the massacre.

The site, located in Ukraine’s capital, had been called “the largest single massacre in the history of the Holocaust” to that particular date. By the end of the war, it is estimated that between 100,000 and 150,000 people were murdered there while it was under German occupation.

Babyn Yar Zelensky

President Zelensky lays a memorial lamp during a commemoration ceremony for the victims of Babyn Yar (credit: UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/REUTERS)

The envoys for Holocaust issues in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and five other European countries issues a joint statement condemning Russian military action in Ukraine.

“We must never forget the heinous crime against humanity that occurred 81 years ago when nearly 34,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices at Babyn Yar. We can never let the memories of those victims and all who were murdered in the Holocaust be dishonoured, erased, or cynically misused for political purposes,” the statement read.

“Thus it is particularly horrifying that Vladimir Putin is trying to justify his unprovoked war against Ukraine by distorting and misappropriating Holocaust history. Saying that today’s democratic Ukraine needs to be “denazified” is an insult to all those who suffered under the Nazi regime in Ukraine and elsewhere. We call on Russia to immediately end its war of aggression against Ukraine.

“Our countries are committed to holding perpetrators of war crimes and other atrocities accountable for their unconscionable actions.”

In March this year, Jewish groups across the world Russian forces bombed the site during the assault on Kyiv.