Russian military damages Holocaust memorial near city of Kharkiv

The Russian military targeted and damaged the Holocaust Memorial in Drobitsky Yar outside the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s defense ministry tweeted Saturday.

“Russian invaders fired on and damaged Holocaust Memorial in Drobitsky Yar on the outskirts of Kharkiv. The Nazis have returned. Exactly 80 years later,” the ministry stated.

The memorial is one of many civilian structures the Russians have hit since the beginning of the invasion. 

Russia has falsely peddled that it is aiming for the “denazification” of Ukraine’s government. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and has said three of his family members died during World War II.

“#Russia continues to attack not only the civilian population of #Ukraine but also the places of remembrance. Russians shelled another Holocaust memorial,” Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center in Kyiv tweeted.

“This time, Russian artillery damaged the Menorah monument in Drobytsky Yar near Kharkiv,” it added.

Earlier during the war, a television tower near the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial site was hit in an attack that killed five people, although there is no evidence the Russians purposely aimed for the center, NBC News reported.

As the war has continued, Russia has increased its attacks on civilian structures such as hospitals, schools, bomb shelters and residential buildings.