Israeli President Reuven Rivlin cut short his visit to Ukraine on Wednesday following the death of the Jewish state's elder statesman Shimon Peres.

"President Rivlin informed President Poroshenko that he has to interrupt his visit to Ukraine due to the death of Shimon Peres," the Ukrainian leader's spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko tweeted.

Rivlin met Poroshenko on Tuesday and was due to attend the 75-year memorial on Thursday of the murder of 34,000 Jews in Kiev's Babi Yar ravine by Nazis during World War II.