A Jewish cemetery in Pervomaisk, Ukraine, went up in flames earlier today after a Russian missile strike, with fires tearing through matzeivos at Behapoli, the city’s largest burial site, where Rabbi Yisrael Hakadosh of Behapoli and Rabbi Mordechai of Talna are buried.

A Russian missile struck the Jewish cemetery in the city of Pervomaisk, in the Mykolaiv region of southeastern Ukraine, just moments ago. Videos from the scene show fires that broke out at several points within the cemetery grounds.

The city has no fewer than five Jewish cemeteries, and the missile hit the Behapoli Cemetery – the largest one. Its name comes from the town of Behapoli, which over time became a neighborhood of Pervomaisk; until the Holocaust, roughly 30,000 Jews lived there. Buried in the affected cemetery are several rabbanim, including Rabbi Yisrael Hakadosh of Behapoli and Rabbi Mordechai of Talna. It is not yet clear whether their graves were damaged.

Twenty-one years ago, in 2004, Shluchim Rabbi Levi-Yitzchak Perlstein and Rebbetzin Chana Perlstein arrived in the city. They reopened the shul and revived the Jewish community. Today, about 2,000 Jews live in the city, and in the coming month a mikva tahara is scheduled to be dedicated.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Perlstein reported that fire engines arrived a short time ago to extinguish several fires that had broken out in the cemetery, causing extensive damage to headstones. He said they are working to assess the damage with the goal of safeguarding the sanctity of the deceased. He emphasized that they are here on the Rebbe’s shlichus, and that nothing will deter them or their fellow shluchim who are serving with dedication throughout the country.

Rabbi Meir Stambler, chairman of the Jewish Communities in Ukraine, noted that this is the fourth strike on a Jewish community in Ukraine within a month. He pointed out that just last week the Shul in Odessa was damaged; about three weeks ago the home of Rabbi Moshe Weber, one of the shluchim in Dnipro, was hit; and a few days earlier, the car of Rabbi Yossi Wolf, the rabbi of Kherson, sustained a direct hit from a UAV. He added that, Boruch Hashem, in all of these cases – by great miracles – there were no bodily injuries.

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