On September 29, 2025, a commemoration ceremony marking the 84th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy took place in Kyiv, on the grounds of the National Historical and Memorial Reserve “Babyn Yar.” The event was attended by representatives of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO), government officials, local authorities, and members of the public.
As part of the program, an interfaith prayer service of remembrance was held, with the participation of Archbishop Ahapit (Humeniuk) of Vyshhorod (OCU); Mitred Archpriest Oleksa Petriv (UGCC); the President of the Union of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine, Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine Yaakov Dov Bleich; Roman Catholic priest Vitaliy Kvapish; Executive Secretary of the Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Union, Pastor Volodymyr Kondor; Bishop of the Ukrainian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Markos Hovhannisyan; Pastor of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church, Valeriy Verner; representative of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Ukraine, Oleksandr Didenko; Head of the Chaplaincy Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ukraine, Serhii Lutskyi; Secretary of the Ukrainian Lutheran Church, Igor Rudzik; Assistant to the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, Avraham Elimelekh Bleich; Advisor to the Head of the Institute for Religious Freedom, Igor Lukianov; and others.
Speakers at the event included Oleksandr Alforov, Head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory; Viktor Yelenskyi, Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience; Viktoriia Riasna, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine for European Integration; Andrii Shevchenko, Head of the Mission of the Ukrainian World Congress in Ukraine; and Roza Tapanova, Director of the National Historical and Memorial Reserve “Babyn Yar,” among others.
The event was organized by the Babyn Yar National Historical and Memorial Reserve in cooperation with the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, and civil society leaders.
During the commemoration ceremony, while participants honored the memory of the victims of Babyn Yar, the Russian Federation launched a drone attack on Kyiv. The event was temporarily interrupted by air raid alerts and the interception of aerial targets. A Shahed-type strike drone flew over the territory of the Babyn Yar Memorial Reserve. This air attack once again demonstrated Russia’s disregard for the memory of Babyn Yar’s victims and its deeply inhumane nature.