Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to Twitter on Tuesday with a message for the world. Referring to the Babyn Yar (also known as Babi Yar) site in the country's capital Kyiv, where the Nazis had brutally exterminated Jews and their other opponents during the Second World War, Zelenskyy said “history is 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? At least 5 killed. History repeating…” Zelenskyy's post on the microblogging site read.
His tweet came moments after five persons died and five others were wounded when Russian troops attacked the main television tower in the heart of Ukraine's capital of Kyiv. The attack potentially disrupted the tower's signal, said Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko. A blast was heard around Kyiv and smoke was seen rising in Babi Yar district, the interior ministry said, adding that equipment had been damaged and television channels “won't work for a while”.
The Babyn Yar incident had happened over the course of a few days in 1941 as part of Nazi Germany's campaign against the Soviet Union - of which both Russia and Ukraine were a part then. The Soviets along with the United States, Great Britain and France were part of the Allies that had fought against the Axis powers, comprising Germany, Japan and Italy.
According to documentaries on World War II, Jews were asked to assemble at the Babyn Yar ravine site with all their valuables, and then shot one after the other by Nazi forces. The incident goes down as one of many crimes that the Nazis committed to wipe out Jews from Europe.
The current events that have unfolded in Ukraine following Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to conduct a military operation in the east European nation have triggered massive condemnation by the international community.
On Tuesday, heavy bombardment and blowing up of residential complexes and an administrative building led to the killing of several Ukrainians.
Zelenskyy and the West have termed Putin's campaign in Ukraine as a"genocide" and held him accountable for the loss of scores of lives due to a needless war.
Putin, on the other hand, has justified the operation by saying that the Ukrainian government is running a neo-Nazi regime and he is fighting to protect his country.
The European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO), and the West have imposed several sanctions against Russia over the past few days, aimed at hobbling the country's financial backbone.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has signed for membership in the EU. At a special session on the Russia-Ukraine conflict at the European Parliament earlier in the day, the Ukrainian president reiterated that his people are strong and will fight for their freedom, while asking the EU to prove they are with the war-torn nation.
(With inputs from agencies)