Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video on Wednesday as the Moscow's invasion of its neighbor entered its seventh day, that "Jews around the world" must speak up in the wake of the war.
The comments came following Tuesday's shelling in Kyiv next to Babi Yar - the site of a World War Two massacre of tens of thousands of Jews by German occupation troops and Ukrainian auxiliaries.
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and a burnt army vehicle near Kyiv
(Photo: Reuters, AFP)
"This strike proves that for many people in Russia our Kyiv is absolutely foreign," he said. "They don't know a thing about Kyiv, about our history. But they all have orders to erase our history, erase our country, erase us all."
"We all died again by Babi Yar. Although the world has promised again and again that it will never happen again," said Zelensky.
"Don't you see what is happening? That's why it is very important now that you, millions of Jews around the world, do not stay silent. Because Nazism is born in silence. Scream about murdering of civilians, scream about murdering of Ukrainians."
Moscow switched to strikes on Ukrainian cities on Tuesday and appeared poised for an advance on Kyiv as the West tightened an economic noose around Russia in retaliation.
But Zelenskiy, unshaven and wearing a khaki T-shirt, said the West's response was not enough, calling for more international support, including backing Ukraine's bid to join the European Union.
"This is no time to be neutral," said Zelensky, whose defiant and emotional tone in regular video addresses have offered his country support and leadership in the war, which he said killed nearly 6,000 Russian troops so far.
In the meantime, an extraordinary pro-Ukrainian show of support took place earlier at the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem, with dozens of Israelis gathering to pray for the well-being of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers.
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Ukraine's Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Kornichuk and Ari Schwartz at the Western Wall
(Photo: Courtesy )
The event was organized by Ari Schwartz, a well-known Israeli businessman who has lived and worked in Ukraine for two decades. Ukraine's Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Kornichuk also took place in the event.
Schwartz also said he transferred humanitarian aid, food, medicine and protective equipment to members of the Jewish community as well as the general population in Ukraine.