Chabad Shliach’s Home Hit in Russian Drone Strike

The home of Rabbi Liron Edri, the Chabad Shliach to the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, was damaged Thursday evening after a Russian drone crashed nearby amid ongoing attacks across the country.

Thankfully, no one was injured in the incident, as Rabbi Edri and his family were not at home at the time of the strike.

Kryvyi Rih, one of Ukraine’s largest cities with a population exceeding 500,000, is the country’s largest steel-producing center and is known as the birthplace of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. An estimated 5,000 Jews currently reside in the city.

Since the outbreak of the war, Jewish institutions across Ukraine—including synagogues, rabbis’ homes, and Jewish cemeteries—have repeatedly come under attack. Community leaders say they have stopped keeping count of the incidents. Over the past six months alone, more than ten such strikes have been recorded, some of which are believed to have been deliberate.

Speaking after the attack, Rabbi Edri described the growing hardships faced by residents. “People are freezing from the cold due to Russian attacks on electricity and energy facilities,” he said. “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 shluchim throughout Ukraine, am remaining here to help the communities.”

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU) expressed solidarity with Rabbi Edri and his work. “We strengthen the hands of Rabbi Edri, who serves his city with astonishing dedication,” the organization said in a statement. “It is vital that the world not forget the hundreds of thousands of Jews living in Ukraine, nor the hundreds of Chabad shluchim families who chose not to leave and remain here under constant bombardment—often without electricity and sometimes without water. Despite the conditions, we will continue our mission and intensify it even further.”