President Rivlin is on an official visit to Ukraine during which he will participate in the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Babi Yar Massacre.

Before departing, Israel’s president said the visit “is an opportunity to mark the cooperation between us, to make new commitments to working in partnership for the benefit of both our peoples.”

Tuesday, President Rivlin will lay a wreath during a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Kiev, at which a minutes silence will be held. He will then go on to lay a wreath at the memorial to the Holodomor, the mass starvation in the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33.

He will then be received at an official state ceremony by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko before addressing a special plenary of the Ukrainian Parliament as part of a day of commemorations for the 75th anniversary of the Babi Yar Massacre.

Babi Yar, a ravine in Kiev, is the site of massacres carried out by German forces and local collaborators during their campaign against the Soviet Union. The most notorious of these massacres took place from 29–30 September 1941, when 33,771 Jews were killed.

To conclude the day, President Rivlin will be a guest of honor at a state dinner in honor of his visit.

On Wednesday, President Rivlin will visit Odessa and meet the city’s mayor before taking a tour of the sites and institutions of Odessa’s Jewish and Zionist heritage including Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s house. He will participate in a conference celebrating the life and work of Jabotinsky.

Before returning to Kiev, President Rivlin will address the opening of an exhibition at the Odessa Literary Museum on the work of Jabotinsky, and then will attend a concert at the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater conducted by Benjamin Yusupov about the city in the days of Jabotinsky.

On Thursday, President Rivlin will meet with Jewish community leaders in Kiev, and then go on to hold a working meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman. In the afternoon, President Rivlin will participate in a reception for world leaders and figures ahead of the ceremony commemorating 75 years since the Babi Yar Massacre, and then participate in the official memorial ceremony at the site.

President Rivlin will return to Israel early on Friday morning.