Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky condemned Monday’s air strike that destroyed the Babi Yar Holocaust memorial in the capital, Kyiv, at a news conference Tuesday, calling the destruction “beyond humanity.”
“This is beyond humanity,” Zelenski was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. “Such a missile strike means that for many Russians, our Kyiv is completely foreign. They know nothing about our capital, about our history. They have an order to erase our history, our country and all of us. “
“Russian mothers are losing their children in a completely foreign country,” he added. “Think of that number, almost 6,000 Russian soldiers were killed.
“To get what? Take Ukraine? That is impossible, “Zelenski said, according to a translation from Kyiv Independent. “This should not be changed by missiles, bombs, tanks, no strikes. We are in our homeland. And for the war against us, there will be an International Tribunal for them. “
The Ukrainian president has continued to speculate on other targets Russia could attack if it attacks a Holocaust memorial.
“What will happen next, if even Babi Yar (to be hit), what other” military “sites,” NATO bases “threaten Russia?” Zelensky asked, according to the AP. “Sophie’s Cathedral, Lavra, St. Andrew’s Church? What they dream of. Damn it.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to justify his attack on Ukraine as an attempt to “denationalize” the country, playing on Russia’s continuing hatred of the Nazi regime. Still, Zelensky is Jewish and his family members died in the Holocaust. Russian authorities compare him to Jews who were forced to cooperate with the Nazis.
Ukrainian authorities compare Russia’s bombing of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, to the Nazi attack on the city in 1941.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also compared Russia to Nazi Germany during the attacks on Kyiv.
“Terrifying Russian missile strikes on Kyiv,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter. “The last time our capital experienced something like this was in 1941, when it was attacked by Nazi Germany. Ukraine has defeated this evil and will defeat this. Stop Putin. Isolate Russia. [Sever] all connections. Expel Russia [everywhere]”
The strike, which damaged Babi Yar, also hit a TV tower and killed five civilians, according to Ukrainian authorities.