A Russian missile barrage struck the Jewish cemetery in Kharkiv over Shabbos, causing significant damage and reinforcing a troubling pattern of Jewish sites being hit amid the ongoing war.

The cemetery, located in Kharkiv’s Saltivka district—an area repeatedly targeted throughout the conflict—took direct hits during one of the latest waves of Russian fire. Community members began documenting shattered gravestones, mangled pathways, and impact craters left scattered among the kevarim of generations of Kharkiv Jews.

Rabbi Moshe Moskowitz, Chabad shaliach and Chief Rabbi of Kharkiv, visited the scene shortly after the strike. Walking among the destruction, he surveyed the damage and recited tefillos in memory of those interred there. The community is now coordinating with local officials to assess the full scope of the devastation and begin planning restoration efforts.

The attack is not an isolated incident. According to the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, approximately 30 Jewish sites across the country have been damaged since Russia launched its full-scale invasion — including shuls, schools, kindergartens, Holocaust memorials, historic buildings, and multiple cemeteries. The cumulative toll reflects both the geographic breadth of the conflict and the vulnerability of centuries-old Jewish heritage sites caught in the crossfire.

Kharkiv’s Jewish community, one of the oldest and most resilient in Ukraine, has endured repeated strikes since the war began. The latest damage, community leaders say, is a stark reminder of the indiscriminate nature of the attacks and the cultural losses mounting alongside the human ones.

Local Jewish organizations are urging international cultural preservation groups to help support reconstruction and long-term protection efforts, warning that irreplaceable heritage—already scarred by decades of Soviet repression and Nazi occupation—now faces a new chapter of destruction.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)