Twenty-two Ukrainian civilians were killed, among them five children, in a Russian missile strike on the city of Pryluky in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine. According to authorities, hundreds of homes were damaged across dozens of buildings, and more victims may still be trapped.
Rabbi Yisrael Silberstein, the Chabad shliach and rabbi of Chernihiv who is also responsible for Pryluky, informed the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU) that significant damage was caused to apartments of Jewish families living in the city. The federation released the update today (Thursday).
The apartments are located in two adjacent buildings that were hit by the powerful blast wave. Despite the extensive damage to the apartments, the residents were not harmed: one family was not home at the time, and a Jewish resident in another apartment was unharmed despite being home during the strike.
Hundreds of other Ukrainian civilians were injured in what has been one of the deadliest attacks on population centers in recent weeks.
Pryluky, a small city of approximately 55,000 residents where some 250 Jews now live, once had a large Jewish community. According to records, around 1900 the community numbered about 8,000 people, comprising roughly 30 percent of the city's total population. Even after World War II, many Jews returned to the city, and a makeshift shul operated there until 1977.
The federation stated: "Ukrainian civilians pay the price of this terrible war and Russian terror every day. As we recall, just two weeks ago the boy Daniel Umansky z"l, an Israeli citizen, was killed when his home in Kyiv was hit, and shuls and cemeteries have been damaged by direct strikes. We are preparing for a particularly difficult winter and pray for peace and redemption soon."
