Eastern Europe
Despite Gov. Alexander Rogachuk saying, “We will not allow the building of anything on bones of people,” officials are moving ahead with plans to build a luxury apartment building complex at the site.
“I would like to say ‘thank you’ to all the Ukrainians who did not vote just for fun,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy told cheering supporters. “It is only the beginning; we will not relax.”
A mass grave of Holocaust victims was allegedly desecrated by grave diggers looking for gold in the Ukrainian town of Raflivka, discovered after a large hole in the center of the sectioned-off pit.
“We will not allow the building of anything on bones of people,” said Gov. Alexander Rogachuk.
“We expect the number of victims to go over 1,000,” said Brest official Anna Kondak. “During three weeks, every day about 40 remains are being found. Now the overall number is around 600. As far as we know, there are two major graves here.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announces opening of trade office in Jerusalem with “diplomatic status” • Follows Czech President Milos Zeman’s visit to Jerusalem in November and inauguration of the Czech Center for Culture, Economics and Tourism, or Czech House.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the leaders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary would instead hold separate meeting with Israeli leaders.
The annual march in Sofia each February is held in remembrance of Gen. Hristo Lukov, a Nazi ally who sent 11,300 Jews to the Nazi death camp of Treblinka in Poland.
This will be the first time that such a summit is held outside of Europe.
Moldova recently endorsed the official International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition, as did the European Union.
During the current visit by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Israeli leaders are discussing other ways of increasing cooperation in a variety of fields, including technology, health, aerospace and science.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu works on continuing to build on existing relations with the two countries, including signing a significant free-trade agreement with Ukraine.
