A Russian missile exploded near the Ukrainian city of Kherson’s main synagogue this weekend, severely damaging the building in a city already ravaged by two years of relentless war.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Wolf, the city’s rabbi and Chabad emissary, vividly described the aftermath in a statement on Sunday: “The synagogue’s courtyard is completely littered with shrapnel, and the walls are endlessly peppered with these fragments,” he recounted.
Shrapel litters the synagogue courtyard (credit: JRNU)
This incident is part of the ongoing turmoil that the war in Ukraine has brought, particularly affecting Jewish communities.
In a detailed account, Wolf shared the extent of the damage: “After the missile exploded in the air, it released about 8000 shrapnels, scattering them all around.”
Kherson has been a target throughout the war
Kherson has been at the forefront of the war’s devastation. Only two weeks earlier, the city was targeted in one of the most intense missile barrages since the conflict began. Emphasizing the perpetual unrest, Wolf lamented, “Our city hasn’t seen a single day of peace. A unique aspect here is the absence of a warning siren. The only alarm we have is the missile’s whistle itself.”
Last week, Russia launched 33 drones and two missiles at Ukraine overnight, with air defenses destroying 22 drones, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday.
“The main areas of attack were the south and north. The Ukrainian Air Force and Defense Forces destroyed 22 enemy drones. Several more drones did not reach their targets,” Ukraine’s Air Forces said on the Telegram messaging app.
The Ukrainian military said Russian drones hit residential neighborhoods in the southern city of Kherson, where several buildings were damaged and a woman was wounded. Drones also hit agribusiness facilities in the Beryslav community of the Kherson region.
