Was Kyiv's Babyn Yar memorial bombed by Russia in the 2022 Military Operation?

Another censored question from StackExchange rehomed on Substack.

I asked this question in 2022 on skeptics.stackexchange.com. It was subsequently deleted by an admin.

I think it’s a useful contribution so I’ve rehomed it here. I believe it was deleted for political reasons. In 2022 Ukraine was trying to establish relations with Israel for entirely selfish reasons. In order do this they tried to flip the narrative that Ukraine has a Nazi problem — a narrative that is certainly true and perpetuated by Russia (which has its own Nazi problem) — with a new narrative that Russia is targeting Holocaust memorials for destruction. This, if true, would certainly be a very Nazi-esque tactic.

The Question

This question is reproduced exactly as it was deleted.

Was Babyn Yar memorial bombed and damaged? Many news outlets are reporting that it was bombed and damaged,

• Babi Yar, Kyiv's Holocaust memorial to victims of Nazis, damaged in Russian bombing attack

• Babyn Yar: Anger as Kyiv's Holocaust memorial is damaged

Though I can only find reports in Hebrew, some are saying though that it wasn't damaged though,

And despite reports, the rocket that damaged the Kyiv TV tower did not in fact harm the Babyn Yar memorial, located in an adjacent area, according to a veteran Israeli journalist, Ron Ben Yishai, who toured the site Wednesday and saw no signs of damage. “Thank God it’s not damaged,” Natan Sharansky, who chairs the memorial site’s advisory board, told the Forward about the synagogue and memorial site at Babyn Yar.

Has the truth emerged through the fog of war? Are there actual pictures of the damage?

Answer

Here is my answer reproduced entirely as deleted,

No, this seems to be war-time propaganda.

This claim is false, there was no damage done to the memorial. And there is no evidence of damage to graves. Martin Dean, a former Scotland Yard investigator who specializes in Nazi war crimes, said in October of 2020, “the whole area of the ravine was literally flattened and turned into a park that is unrecognizable compared to the wartime terrain.” The Ukranians in the late 1960s built a TV Tower in this general area, this construction project alone would have destroyed (or at least severely disturbed) the graves. And there are accounts of many of the claimed graves being moved beforehand,

The Jewish cemetery in Kiev where my father Iosif Geifman was buried in 1926, Kiev, Lukianovka. The cemetery was opened in the late 90s (19th century). The cemetery destruction began during the occupation of Kiev by fascists in 1941 - 1943. The final elimination of the cemetery took place in the early 60s XX century. Some individual graves were removed to the Jewish part on a new cemetery. [...] This Jewish cemetery in the outskirts of the town, called Lukianovka, was opened in late 90s of the 19th century. It functioned until 1941. First destruction of monuments and the cemetery took place during the German occupation (1941-1943). In 1961 the cemetery was officially closed based on the decision of municipal authorities. Jewish families had half a year to rebury their relatives at the Jewish areas of a new cemetery in the city. A new TV Center was built at the spot where the cemetery of Lukianovka was located. There is no separate Jewish cemetery in Kiev nowadays. - The Jewish Cemetery in Kiev

The memorial was not damaged in the offensive. That part of the claim is just false. Less demonstrably false, there was a cemetery called Lukianovka which was moved: families of those buried in the cemetery were given six months to move their deceased family members. The exact location of the mass-graves is unknown. A TV tower was built in the vicinity. This is a pretty serious construction project. This TV tower was destroyed: there is no evidence of damage to graves, or the Holocaust memorial.

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Picture of the construction of the tower, you can see the pilings already set. Because there is no evidence of graves being destroyed or damaged, the most obvious question is how much more damage to a grave is done by blowing a tower up that was built on top of the grave, than original act of building the tower to begin with.

Conclusion

This was another “Hot Network Question” contributing to the popularity of the entire site.

I can understand people not liking my answer; there is nothing for me to be upset about on the answer. It challenged the Ukrainian propaganda which was certainly popular where the moderator was. That’s what a site about skepticism is supposed to do. However, my perspective was within the rules of the site. If you don’t like the answer, downvoting is available to everyone. There were also other answers challenging my narrative. Truth be told, that’s why I like the site. We all get to submit our takes, solutions, and answers.

However, the question being admin-deleted was a real missed opportunity by the network and it stifled skepticism about an official narrative.

Scientific Journal of Objective Truths and Proof 2025:3-28.0.0