During a large-scale attack on Wednesday involving the launch of numerous drones and missiles toward cities across Ukraine, the home of Rabbi Zelig Brez, head of the Jewish community in Dnipro and the city’s Chabad emissary, was damaged.
The strike occurred when a suicide drone hit an open area very close to the residential building. As a result of the powerful blast wave and shrapnel from interception efforts in the area, the family home sustained extensive damage. The windows were completely shattered, and fragments penetrated the rooms inside. One of the rabbi’s children suffered minor injuries from broken glass, received initial medical treatment at the scene, and is reported to be in good condition.
Photos from the scene show a small crater which was formed near the building, smoke rising from the ground, and shrapnel holes torn through the windows.
Inside the home, a windowsill was covered with a thick layer of shattered glass. Flowerpots were seen overturned, and a prayer book lay beside the debris.
“It was a great miracle that the injury ended so lightly," members of the Jewish community said. “The blast was enormous - the whole house shook. Shrapnel and interceptor debris struck the building directly. The child was injured by broken glass, and his life was spared."
Rabbi Brez is considered one of the leading figures in Dnipro and serves under the city’s Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky. As director of the Jewish community in Dnipro, he oversees one of the largest Jewish centers in the world - the Menorah Center. Since the start of the war, Rabbi Brez has worked tirelessly on behalf of thousands of Jewish refugees who arrived in the city from combat zones in eastern Ukraine, operating a large-scale humanitarian aid network together with JRNU, the Chabad network in the country.
Dnipro, which serves as a key logistical and strategic hub for Ukraine, has suffered frequent bombardments in recent weeks. Only recently, reports emerged of several fatalities and dozens of injuries in the city following direct strikes on residential buildings and infrastructure. Despite the constant danger, Chabad emissaries in the city, including Rabbi Brez, continue to remain there and sustain community life and Jewish institutions under fire.