Viktor Yushchenko Participates in Celebration of Jewish Hanukkah

KYIV — Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko together with Abraham Volf, the Chief Rabbi of the Southern Ukrainian Regional Association of Jewish Communities, lit the Hanukkah lights in one of Odesa’s synagogues. RISU's Ukrainian-language web site posted this story on 17 December, 2009.

According to the presidential press service, Viktor Yushchenko greeted the Jewish community on the occasion of the festival, which he attends every year. The president assured the participants that securing self-realization of all national minorities in Ukraine is extremely important for him. “I will do everything to ensure that every nationality in Ukraine is granted what it does not have even in its native land, because it would be a complement to Ukraine, our freedoms, and democracy. It is very important for the development of the Ukrainian state to be carried out by millions of hands” he said.  

He wished the Jewish community that their homes and hearts be filled with joy and warmth by the sacred lights of Hanukkah on the festive days.