Zelensky says Russian missile hit site of Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center

The Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center site in Kyiv was hit by a Russian missile on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed, killing at least five people.

As part of the same attack, the city's main television and radio tower was also struck, The Washington Post reports.

Over the course of two days in September 1941, Nazi killing squads murdered more than 33,000 Jews at Babyn Yar, also known as Babi Yar, a ravine on the outskirts of Kyiv. In a tweet, Zelensky asked, "To the world: what is the point of saying 'never again' for 80 years if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar? At least five killed. History repeating...."

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Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, condemned the strike, saying in a statement that "rather than being subjected to blatant violence, sacred sites like Babi Yar must be protected. Of course, the security and wellbeing of civilians must be universally and absolutely respected. We continue to follow with grave concern the outrageous acts of aggression being perpetrated against civilian targets in Ukraine."

Russia has claimed it is not targeting civilian sites, only military infrastructure. However, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started last week, there have been strikes in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, with artillery shells and missiles hitting residential areas.