‘Now it’s Russia bombing Babyn Yar’: The moment stunned President Zelensky finds out mid-interview that Putin’s forces have struck Holocaust memorial with a rocket
- The President was chatting to a journalist about his family when he found out
- Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak stormed into the room and delivered the news
- Babyn Yar is a ravine in Kyiv where tens of thousands of Jews were killed by Nazis
- Zelensky is himself Jewish and lost several family members in the Holocaust
- After a moment of pure disbelief, he simply said: ‘That is Russia, congratulations’
- The rocket attack also knocked out Kyiv’s television tower and killed at least five
- Click here for MailOnline’s liveblog with the latest updates on the Ukraine crisis
This is the moment Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discovers mid-interview that the site of the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial in Kyiv was hit by Russian missiles.
In an interview published by Channel 4 News, the President was chatting to a journalist about his family when Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak stormed into the room and declared: ‘now it’s [Russia] bombing Babyn Yar.’
Zelensky – who is himself Jewish and lost several family members in the Holocaust – turns to face his deputy and asks: ‘Now? Babyn Yar?’, eyes wide with disbelief.
After a moment of stunned silence, the President assumes steely look of acceptance, before sarcastically remarking: ‘That… is Russia. Congratulations.’
A moment later, he sidles out of the room and back to work.
Babyn Yar is a ravine close to the centre of Kyiv and the site of one of the largest mass killings in the Nazi campaign against the Soviet Union during WWII.
As many as 150,000 people were killed by the Nazis at Babyn Yar – including 34,000 Jews in two horrific days in 1941 – and the ravine is now the site of a memorial constructed after the War.
Five people were killed in Tuesday’s missile attack on the site, which also knocked out Kyiv’s 1,300ft television tower nearby.
The President (L) was chatting to a journalist about his family when Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak (R) stormed into the room and declared: ‘now it’s [Russia] bombing Babyn Yar.’ Zelensky – who is himself Jewish and lost several family members in the Holocaust – turns to face his deputy and asks: ‘Now? Babyn Yar?’, eyes wide with disbelief
After a moment of stunned silence, the President assumes steely look of acceptance, before sarcastically remarking: ‘That… is Russia. Congratulations.’
A view of the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center in Kyiv on March 2, 2022. Five people were killed in the Tuesday attack on Babyn Yar, the site of World War II’s biggest slaughter of Kyiv Jews and a place of memorial and pilgrimage, as Russian rockets knocked out the nearby television tower
This image was taken a split second after a Russian missile slammed into the Babyn Yar ravine and Holocaust memorial in central Kyiv and site of Kyiv’s 1,300ft television tower
A dog walks through rubble on the road in front of the Kyiv TV Tower on March 02, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that at least five people were killed when a projectile struck the area yesterday, which is adjacent to the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial
Babyn Yar was one of many locations in Kyiv to have been hit by Russian missiles on Tuesday as Putin launched an indiscriminate bombing campaign against the capital.
Tuesday afternoon saw a series of explosions around the 1,300ft TV tower in central Kyiv, which is built alongside the Babyn Yar ravine – the site of the Holocaust memorial.
Five people, reportedly a single family walking together, were blown to pieces in the blasts. It is unclear whether there were further casualties.
After the attack, Zelensky tweeted: ‘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 5 killed. History repeating…’
At the beginning of the invasion, Putin declared that his ‘military operation’ did not seek to occupy Ukraine, but instead to ‘demilitarise’ and ‘de-Nazify’ the nation.
His remarks were met with international backlash condemning the all-out invasion, but the claim his troops were there to ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine’s leadership structure was outright laughable.
President Zelensky is Jewish, and many of his relatives were exterminated by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
After the attack, Zelensky tweeted: ‘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 5 killed. History repeating…’
Zelensky is pictured paying respects to his grandfather Semyon Ivanovich Zelensky in 2019. Semyon was a member of the Soviet Union Red Army and fought the Nazis in World War II
An audiovisual installation is pictured at the Babyn Yar memorial in September 2020. On September 29-30, 1941, approximately 34,000 Jews were killed in the Babyn Yar ravine. Kyiv’s TV tower can be seen in the background
What’s more, the President’s grandfather, Semyon Ivanovich Zelensky, was a member of the Soviet Union’s Red Army and fought against advancing Nazi troops during World War II.
In a 2019 Facebook post on the eve of his presidency, Zelensky posted a photo from his hometown of Kryvyi Rih at his grandfather’s gravestone in tribute.
‘[Semyon] went through the whole war and remains forever in my memory one of those heroes who defended Ukraine from the Nazis,’ he wrote on May 9 – Ukraine’s official ‘Victory Day’ over Nazism.
‘It’s a shame that we so rarely mention our veterans, our grandparents. We should be grateful to them every day.
‘Thanks for the fact that the inhuman ideology of Nazism is forever a thing of the past. Thanks to those who fought against Nazism — and won.
‘We are just grateful to everyone for the opportunity to be born and live.’
Source: Read Full Article
