'History repeating': Holocaust memorial where Nazis killed more than 33,000 Jews hit by Russian missile

A Russian missile strike hit the site of a Holocaust memorial in Kyiv on Tuesday afternoon as Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine continues to escalate.

The memorial was struck when Russian troops fired at the neighbouring TV tower, reportedly killing five people.

It comes as Russian troops told Kyiv residents to flee their homes ahead of an anticipated bombardment, while Russia's 40-mile-long military convoy drew closer to the capital.

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President Volodymr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish and lost family members during the Holocaust, condemned the bombing of the Babyn Yar memorial, describing the Russian attack as "history repeating".

"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?" he said.

"At least five killed. History repeating."

The massacre of Jews at Babyn Yar during the Second World War is widely seen as one of the Nazi's worst atrocities, and one of the most horrifying moments of the Holocaust.

On 29 and 30 September 1941, notorious paramilitary death squad – the Einsatzgruppen – rounded up 33,771 Jews and shot them into a ravine at Babyn Yar.

Over six million Jews were killed by Nazis during the Second World War, including one million Ukrainian Jews.

Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Centre Advisory Board chair Natan Sharansky said the bombing on the memorial site was "abhorrent" and "symbolic".

Before the bombing, the centre had issued a condemnation of Putin's use of Holocaust language and pledged to document Russian war crimes in the country.

"Putin seeks to distort and manipulate the Holocaust to justify an illegal invasion of a sovereign democratic country is utterly abhorrent," said Sharansky.

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"It is symbolic that he starts attacking Kyiv by bombing the site of the Babyn Yar, the biggest of Nazi massacre."

Russia's attack is made especially egregious given one of the justifications Russia has given for its invasion is to "de-Nazify" the country.

"Once again, I speak to the Ukrainian soldiers," said the Russian president on Friday.

"Do not allow neo-Nazis and Banderites to use your children, your wives and the elderly as a human shield.

"Take power into your own hands. It seems that it will be easier for us to come to an agreement than with this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis."

When the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, was challenged by a journalist on accusations Ukraine was being run by Nazis on Monday he defended the claims.

"On the fact that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has Jewish heritage, it doesn’t matter because real power in Ukraine, real political weight belongs to the radicals and neo-Nazis who defy the president, who have their own agenda, who rule the ball in Ukraine in fact," he said.

Other Ukrainian politicians swiftly joined Zelenskyy to condemn the attack, with the Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba claiming it was committed by "Russian Nazis".

"Kyiv TV tower, which has just been hit by a Russian missile, is situated on the territory of Babyn Yar," he said.

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"On September 29 to 30 1941, Nazis killed over 33,000 Jews here. Eighty years later, Russian Nazis strike this same land to exterminate Ukrainians.

"Evil and barbaric."

Andriy Yermak, chariman of Ukraine's Presidential Office, said: "Russia has launched a missile attack on the territory where the Babyn Yar memorial complex is located.

"These villains are killing Holocaust victims for the second time."

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