In her first appearance after assuming office, Julie Fisher, the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, visited the Babi Yar memorial together with shluchim Rabbi Yonatan Markovitch and Rabbi Rafael Rotman, where she declared support for the Jewish community in Ukraine and war against antisemitism.

Just days after assuming office, Ambassador Julie Fisher chose to begin her diplomatic mission with a visit to Babi Yar in Kyiv, the site of the massacre where more than 33,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis in September 1941.

She was accompanied by Chabad shliach and Chief Rabbi of Kyiv, Rabbi Yonatan Markovitch, and Rabbi Rafael Rotman, Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU). At the site, she lit a memorial candle in honor of the victims. “The United States is committed to remembering the horrors of the Holocaust, to standing with Jewish communities everywhere, and to fighting antisemitism without compromise. Never again is now,” she declared.

During the ceremony, Rabbi Markovitch told the Ambassador that he was named after his great-grandfather, who was murdered in the Holocaust along with his wife and children. He also described the work of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s shluchim — born in Ukraine — who continue to serve Jewish communities throughout the country. Ambassador Fisher expressed deep interest in the history of Ukrainian Jewry and in the current state of the community amid the ongoing war.

Rabbi Rotman spoke about the ongoing restoration efforts at the Babi Yar ravine, the site of the killings.

Rabbi Markovitch recited the Kel Malei Rachamim memorial prayer for the victims, adding: “In these days, when Jews are attacked not only in Ukraine but across Europe and even in Israel, this visit sends a clear message: the Jewish community is not alone. The whole world is watching.”