(21 Mar 1999) Natural Sound

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid an emotional tribute to Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust during a brief visit to Ukraine on Sunday.

Accompanied on his first trip to Ukraine by Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon, Netanyahu also met Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko to discuss cooperation and other issues.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepping off the plane at Kiev airport.

Surrounded by hundreds of Ukrainian Jews, Netanyahu laid a wreath at the base of a large, menorah-shaped monument at snow-covered Babi Yar, a ravine where Nazi German forces killed more than 33-thousand Jews over just two days in 1941.

Around 100-thousand people, most of them Jews, were killed at Babi Yar during World War Two.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma promised Netanyahu that Ukraine would continue to guarantee the rights of its Jewish minority.

About 500-thousand Jews currently live in Ukraine, although mass emigration has continued over the last decade.

Netanyahu also met Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko to discuss cooperation and other issues.

Speaking to reporters, Netanyahu said he and Kuchma had signed a memorandum of agreement on important security matters that allows their defence ministries to explore
varieties of cooperation.

He did not elaborate.

The two leaders also agreed to sign a treaty on avoiding double taxation and to work out measures to protect Israeli investments in economically struggling Ukraine.

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