The home of the rabbi of Krivoy Rog, Rabbi Liron Edri, was damaged about an hour ago when a Russian drone crashed nearby. Miraculously, there were no casualties, as the rabbi and his family were not at home at the time of the impact.

Krivoy Rog is one of the largest cities in Ukraine, with a population of over half a million, and is considered the country’s largest steel-production center.

At the same time, the city is better known as the birthplace of Ukraine’s Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Approximately 5,000 Jews live in the city.

It appears that Jewish communities across Ukraine have already lost count of the number of strikes on synagogues, rabbis’ homes, and Jewish cemeteries. Over the past six months, there has been a sharp increase, with more than ten such incidents, some of them apparently deliberate.

According to Rabbi Edri: “People are freezing because of the targeted Russian attacks on electricity and energy facilities. This is a very harsh and challenging winter, and we need a great deal of Heavenly mercy. But they will not break us. Together with my fellow Shluchim of the Rebbe across Ukraine, we are staying here to help our communities.”

A Krivoy Rog city official said this evening: “Putin continues to massacre innocent civilians and to harm Jewish communities in Ukraine as well. These attacks have already caused heavy damage in Kyiv, Odessa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson, and more.”

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU) stated: “We express our support for Rabbi Edri, who serves his city with astonishing dedication. It is very important that the world not forget the hundreds of thousands of Jews who live here, along with the hundreds of Chabad Shliach families who did not leave Ukraine and remain here under constant bombardment, with terrible suffering, without electricity and sometimes without water. Nevertheless, we will continue to cling to our shlichus and intensify it even more, with hope for the complete Geulah.”

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