Victor Yushchenko has spoken at an international forum LET MY PEOPLE LIVE!, which is being held in Kyiv to mark the sixty-fifth anniversary of the Babyn Yar massacre, according to the President`s press-office.
“[…] on behalf of the Ukrainian nation, I am bowing my head to honor the innocent victims of terror,” he said.
The President said the atrocious killing of over 100,000 people of different nationalities had been concealed for many years but admitted that lifeless statistics would never reflect the magnitude of the tragedy.
Mr. Yushchenko declared that “Ukraine resolutely condemns those who incited the Holocaust and will spare no effort to prevent such tragedies together with the world community.”
“I clearly and straightforwardly promise that there will never be ethnic intolerance and religious hatred in Ukraine. Together with other world leaders, I support the global process of
strengthening the dialogue of cultures and religions. Like all Ukrainians, I refuse to accept and tolerate the slightest manifestation of xenophobia and anti-Semitism,” he said.
Mr. Yushchenko then remembered Ukrainians that heroically saved Jews during the Holocaust:
“I am proud of those righteous Ukrainians who were saving innocent Jewish lives when the millennium-long Jewish presence in Ukraine was being eradicated.”
He also thanked his colleagues and delegates of the forum.
The forum was organized by the government of Ukraine, the World Holocaust Forum
Foundation, and Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs` and Heroes` Remembrance Authority.
