When evil returns to Europe: the cost of Russia’s inhumane war against Ukraine

A column by Yevhen Korniychuk, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Israel, was published in the Jerusalem Post. The occasion for the text was a tragedy that occurred in Kyiv just a few days ago.

Yevgenia Bezfamilnaya has died — a woman who survived the Holocaust. She, who survived one of the darkest periods in human history, did not survive this winter. She died from cold and hunger. The reason, the author emphasizes, is direct and obvious: systematic strikes by Russia on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

In the very city where she experienced persecution and the threat of annihilation as a child, decades later, Yevgenia once again found herself without heat, without electricity, and without basic security. The story has come full circle in a cruel way — already in the 21st century.

Korniychuk draws attention to an especially painful contrast. In the same week, the Russian Embassy in Israel held a ceremony at the memorial to the defenders of the Siege of Leningrad. There, they remembered Russian citizens who died in World War II from hunger and cold as victims of fascism.

The memory of these people is sacred. But, the author writes, in this juxtaposition of past and present, deep cynicism is revealed. The state that publicly honors the suffering of its citizens from that era today pursues a policy that consciously leads to cold and hunger among the civilian population of Ukraine.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the ambassador emphasizes, is not only a day of remembrance. It is a day of moral reckoning. The Holocaust was unique in its scale, ideology, and systematic destruction. It cannot and should not be compared to other tragedies. But its lessons are universal.

Dehumanization of a people. Justification of aggression and violence with distorted historical narratives. Using civilians as a tool of pressure. Humanity has already walked this path — and knows where it leads.

Russia’s war against Ukraine, writes Korniychuk in the Jerusalem Post, is not just a dispute over territories. It is a targeted attack on identity, culture, and the very right of a sovereign nation to exist. When power plants are destroyed in winter, when millions are left without water and heating, this is not “collateral damage,” but a deliberate strategy of pressure on the civilian population.

For Israel, a state born from the ashes of the Holocaust and living with the collective memory of “Never Again,” this issue resonates particularly sharply. Memory that does not become a moral guide risks turning into an empty ritual. True preservation of memory requires a clear stance — against aggression, against terrorizing civilians, against attempts to erase national identity.

In this context, NAnews — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency emphasizes: the publication in the Jerusalem Post is not just the opinion of a diplomat, but a reminder that historical memory obliges action.

The woman who died this winter in Kyiv should not become a political symbol. She is a human reminder that history does not remain in textbooks. It returns if the world chooses not to look directly.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, writes Korniychuk, the world must ask itself: is it enough for us to remember — or do we allow memory to guide our actions? When evil rises again in Europe, words alone are not enough. Moral clarity, solidarity with victims, and the protection of basic principles of freedom and human dignity are needed.