Drobytsky Yar

Drobytsky Yar is a ravine in Kharkiv, Ukraine and the site of Nazi massacres during the Holocaust in Ukraine. Starting in October 1941, Nazi troops occupied Kharkiv and began preparations for the mass-murder of the local population. Over the following months, members of the Einsatzgruppen murdered an estimated 16,000–30,000 local residents, mainly Jews. Notably on 15 December 1941, when the temperature was −15 °C (5 °F), around 15,000 Jews were shot. Children were thrown into pits alive, to save bullets, in the expectation that they would quickly freeze to death. On 26 March 2022, the site's menorah monument was damaged by Russian artillery shelling during the invasion of Ukraine.