Richard Engel on Russia Bombing TV Tower at Site of Holocaust Memorial: ‘So Much for That De-Nazification Campaign’

Five people were killed in a Russian strike on a TV tower at the site of a Holocaust memorial, according to Ukrainian officials.

Russian forces fired at the Kyiv TV tower, near the Babyn Yar memorial, the site of where more than 30,000 Jews were massacred by Nazi occupiers and local collaborators over two days in September 1941.

Ukrainian officials said five people were killed and five more were wounded in the strike, according to the Associated Press.

Television channels “were disrupted for a short time,” but were quickly restored thanks to back-up systems, NBC’s Richard Engel reported.

“It’s another sign of resiliency here,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke out agains the attack on Twitter.

“To the world: what is the point of saying ‘never again’ for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar?” wrote on Twitter. “At least 5 killed. History repeating…”

Engel pointed out on MSNBC that Russian President Vladimir Putin described the invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation” with the goal to “denazify” Ukraine. In order to justify the war, Putin has described Ukraine’s leaders, including its first Jewish president Zelensky, as “neo-Nazis.”

“Now you have Russia attacking next to [Babyn Yar], claiming to be carrying out a de-Nazification campaign, killing at least five people in a country with a Jewish president,” Engel said. “So much for that de-Nazification campaign.”

“It’s just an outrageous irony,” MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell added.

Watch above, via MSNBC.