During a nighttime assault in Ukraine on Monday evening, Russian forces launched a swarm of Shahed-model suicide drones at the port city of Odesa, on the shores of the black sea. One of the most significant strikes hit the historic Nahalat Eliezer Synagogue in the Peresyp District of Odessa, where a direct impact sparked a fire.
The drones were observed primarily in the downtown and central districts, triggering massive blazes and widespread damage to civilian infrastructure. As of now, no casualties have been reported. Jewish leaders—including the Jewish Community of Odessa and Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis—strongly condemned the attack and the damage to the synagogue.
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Chief Rabbi of Odessa, Rabbi Shlomo Bakst, expressed deep sorrow. “Just one day after mourning the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, we now mourn a new and painful destruction—the severe damage to the Peresyp Synagogue in Odessa. Although it hasn’t been in regular use in recent years, it stood for generations as a house of prayer, memory and sanctity, housing ancient scrolls and holy books. Its destruction is a wound to our community and our heritage.”
Rabbi Rafael Kruskal, deputy president of the Jewish Community of Odsessa and CEO of the Tikva Organization—which helped evacuate hundreds of Jewish children to Romania at the start of the war—issued a sharp condemnation: “When a house of worship is attacked, I expect the entire world to denounce such cruelty. Indiscriminate violence targeting religious sites and innocent civilians crosses a moral red line—one that has been violated repeatedly. It must stop. Our communities, our children and our sacred institutions deserve protection, not destruction.”
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis, also responded to the incident: “I join the unequivocal condemnations voiced by the leaders of the Jewish community in Odesa. This is a violent act that occurred at a chilling moment—immediately after Tisha B’Av, the day of mourning for the destruction of the Temple. The targeting of an ancient house of prayer is not a random incident—it is further proof of the destructive nature of Russian aggression, aimed not only at Ukraine but also at its civilian population and Jewish communities.”
The Jewish Community of Odessa is calling on world leaders and human rights organizations to raise their voices loudly and urgently against these repeated acts of cruelty. The community stated that deliberate attacks on civilian and religious infrastructure are intolerable.