The home of Rabbi Liron Edri, the rabbi of the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, was struck Thursday evening when a Russian drone crashed nearby. Miraculously, no one was injured, as the rabbi and his family were not at home at the time of the strike.
Kryvyi Rih is one of Ukraine’s largest cities, with a population of more than half a million residents, and is considered the region’s largest steel center. The city is also known as the birthplace of Ukraine’s Jewish President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Approximately 5,000 Jews live in the city.
Jewish communities across Ukraine have already stopped counting the number of strikes on synagogues, rabbis’ homes, and Jewish cemeteries. Over the past six months, a sharp increase has been recorded, with more than ten such incidents, some of which are believed to have been intentional.
Rabbi Edri said, “People are freezing from the cold due to Russian attacks targeting electricity and energy facilities. It is a very difficult and challenging winter, and we need a great deal of heavenly mercy, but they will not break us. I, together with my fellow Chabad emissaries throughout Ukraine, am staying here to help the communities."
The Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU) said, “We strengthen the hands of Rabbi Edri, who works in his city with astonishing dedication. It is very important that the world not forget the hundreds of thousands of Jews living here, as well as the hundreds of Chabad emissary families who did not leave Ukraine and remain here under constant bombardment, enduring terrible and threatening conditions, without electricity and sometimes without water. At the same time, we will continue to adhere to our mission and intensify it even further."