Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

‘Jews to the graves,’ Ukrainian ultranationalist shouted as he toppled Kyiv Hanukkah menorah

(JTA) — A Ukrainian ultranationalist filmed himself toppling a Hanukkah menorah in downtown Kyiv while shouting about death to Jews.

The man, identified by the Ukrainian media as Andrey Rachkov, a provocateur with a criminal record, is the subject of a police investigation after video of the vandalism emerged on Thursday, the Ukrainian news site Zik reported Saturday.

Rachkov posted the video of his actions on Facebook, adding: “How to treat foreigners who are engaged in usurpation of power, occupation of territories, genocide.”

As he toppled the large menorah, he shouted: “To Ukrainians the power, Jews to the graves.”

Rachkov attempted to topple another menorah elsewhere in Kyiv but failed to bring it down because it was bolted to the ground, Zik reported.

Ukrainian nationalists have repeatedly targeted Jews in their protests against Ukraine’s Jewish president, Vlodymyr Zelensky.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.