The annual memorial for the Kedoshim murdered in Babi Yar, on the outskirts of Kiev, took place this week with the participation of Ukraine’s Jewish President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the country’s rabbinic leadership.

The event, organized by the National Historical Memorial “Babi Yar” with the assistance of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU), drew the presence of senior rabbonim and shluchim. Representing the communities were Rabbi Raphael Rutman, Vice-Chairman of the Federation and a close associate of the president; Ukraine’s Chief Rabbis, Rabbi Moshe Asman and Rabbi Yaakov Bleich; Kiev’s Chief Rabbi and shliach Rabbi Yonatan Markovitch; Lviv’s Chief Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo Bald; and Rabbi Motti Levenhartz, shliach in Eastern Kiev. They were joined by additional shluchim and city rabbonim, including Rabbi Pinchas Vishedski of Donetsk, Rabbi Shalom Gopin of Lugansk, Rabbi Shaul Horowitz of Vinnitsa, and Rabbi Meir Holtzberg of Bila Tserkva.

Rabbi Bleich, currently in aveilus, recited Kaddish, while Rabbi Rutman led Keil Maleh Rachamim. On behalf of the Federation, Rabbi Rutman presented President Zelensky with a large-print edition of Tehillim translated into Ukrainian. The president expressed appreciation for the Federation’s ongoing effort to publish seforim in the local language—including Tehillim, Siddurim, children’s books, and soon, a Chumash. Rabbi Rutman noted that these translated Tehillim have also been placed at Kever Dovid HaMelech in Yerushalayim and at the Kosel HaMaaravi.

Zelensky thanked the rabbonim for their tefillos on behalf of the Ukrainian people, acknowledging that such prayers give strength and courage both to the nation and to its soldiers on the front. He once again voiced his appreciation for the tireless efforts of Chabad shluchim and the Federation, who support Ukrainian Jewry throughout the year, and especially during the Yomim Tovim season.

Babi Yar, the infamous ravine where close to 34,000 Jews were brutally murdered on Erev Yom Kippur 5702 (September 29–30, 1941), remains the largest single massacre site in Europe. At this year’s ceremony, the names of 1,761 victims—newly uncovered thanks to the president’s directive to open national archives—were read publicly for the first time, granting long-overdue kavod to the martyrs and their families.