Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that “Nazis have returned” after Russian troops attacked and damaged a Holocaust memorial outside the city of Kharkiv.
“Russian invaders shelled and damaged the Holocaust memorial in Drobitsky Yar on the outskirts of Kharkiv. The Nazis have returned. Exactly 80 years later.” The ministry announced this on Twitter.
The memorial is a menorah-shaped memorial at the entrance of the Drobytsky Yar Holocaust Memorial Complex. According to the World Jewish Congress, about 15,000 Jews were shot at this site during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
The attack is the second time Russian forces have attacked Holocaust memorial sites since they first invaded Ukraine on February 24. Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian army had bombed the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial.
Babyn Yar, a gorge in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was the site of one of the deadliest Nazi massacres of World War II. Over 100,000 people were murdered on the site, including around 34,000 Jews.
“To the world: what’s the point of saying ‘never again’ for 80 years when the world is silent when a bomb falls on the same place as Babyn Yar?” At least 5 dead. History repeats itself…” Zelenskyi tweeted after the attack on March 1.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that “Nazis have returned” after Russian troops bombed a Holocaust museum outside Kharkiv. Above is the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial in Babyn Yar Park on March 2 in Kyiv. Laurent Van der Stockt for Le Monde/Getty Images
Zelensky, who is Jewish, has often conjured up the tragedies of World War II while working to garner international support. In a video conference with Israeli leaders last week, Zelenskyy claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to push through a “final solution” in his country.
“You remember it and I’m sure you’ll never forget it,” he said. “But you should now hear what’s coming from Moscow. They say the same words now: ‘Final Solution’, but this time it’s about us,” he added: “102 years after the Nazis, the order was given for the Russians to start invading Ukraine, which has already killed thousands of people and millions made homeless.”
However, these comments were dismissed by some Israeli lawmakers, including Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who said “the Holocaust should not be compared to anything”.
Meanwhile, Putin has also used WWII rhetoric when trying to justify the ongoing invasion, baselessly accusing the Ukrainian government of being Nazi-dominated and claiming his goal is to “denazify” the country .
“Putin is trying to sort of recycle this anti-Nazi narrative to appeal to a very strong emotion to get support for what he’s doing.” Thomas Graham, Distinguished Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations and co-founder of the study program for Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia at Yale University previously told Newsweek.
Newsweek contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for further comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.