Ukraine commemorated the 83rd anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy on Sept. 29, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that it is a "terrifying symbol" of what can happen when the world "lacks the determination to stand up against evil."
The Babyn Yar tragedy was a mass murder of nearly 34,000 Jews by Nazi forces over two days in September 1941, near Kyiv, as part of the Holocaust.
Estimates put the total death toll, which also includes Soviet prisoners of war and the Romani people, at over 100,000.
"Babyn Yar is a vivid proof of the savagery that regimes led by leaders who rely on intimidation and violence are capable of," Zelensky said, evidently drawing parallels between the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II and Russia's current full-scale war against Ukraine.
"They have remained unchanged throughout history. But the world's reaction must be different. This is what the world should have learned. We must stand guard over humanity, life, and justice."
Last year, Zelensky commemorated the anniversary at the site of the massacre in Kyiv with members of the Jewish community.
Zelensky emphasized how the Nazis indiscriminately targeted men, women, and children, forcing them to walk down what was later called "the Road of Death" to the Babyn Yar ravine.
"The scale of this evil is still hard to perceive," he added.
"When the eyes of the world are closed, humanity loses. We must defend ourselves against evil."
Volodymyr Yermolenko
