Holocaust Survivor Yevgeny Bondar Fatally Wounded After Russian Attack on Kherson

An 84-year-old member of Ukraine’s Jewish community, Yevgeny Bondar, has died from injuries sustained during recent Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, according to Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Azman’s post on X on December 30.

Bondar was critically wounded several days ago when shrapnel from Russian ammunition struck his liver and severely injured his arm, which doctors were forced to amputate. Despite intensive medical efforts, he later died from his injuries, Rabbi Azman said.

Rabbi Azman described the killing as another example of the human cost of Russia’s war against Ukraine, noting that civilians of different nationalities and faiths continue to be killed in their homes. He said Bondar had lived peacefully in Kherson as part of the city’s Jewish community.

Bondar was a survivor of World War II and the Holocaust, having lived through Nazi persecution of Jews, but was ultimately killed during Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, Rabbi Azman said.

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“This is the kind of ‘denazification’ that the Russian army has been carrying out for almost four years in a row on the territory of Ukraine, killing not only Ukrainians, but also other nationalities who simply live here peacefully,” Rabbi Azman wrote.

Previously, it was reported that an overnight Russian attack on Odesa damaged infrastructure and residential buildings, including high-rise apartment blocks in two districts of the city, according to Serhii Lysak, head of the Odesa City Military Administration.

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