Moshe Azman, the chief rabbi of Ukraine, said Yevgeny Bondar, 84, a member of Kherson’s Jewish community and a Holocaust survivor, died on Dec. 30 after being wounded in recent shelling by Russia.
Azman said Bondar was “critically wounded” when “shrapnel from Russian ammunition struck his liver and severely injured his arm,” which doctors “were forced to amputate.” He later died of his injuries.
“This is the kind of ‘de-Nazification’ that the Russian army has been carrying out for almost four years in a row on the territory of Ukraine,” Azman said. “Killing not only Ukrainians, but also other nationalities who simply live here peacefully.”
The chief rabbi shared a photo of Bonder wearing a kippah and dancing. “He survived World War II and Hitler’s Nazis, who deliberately sought out and killed Jews,” Azman said. “But he did not survive the Russian ‘liberators.’”
JNS sought more information, but did not hear back before press time.
Recent reporting said Russian shelling in Kherson, a port city in southern Ukraine, on Dec. 28-29 killed one person and injured 10, attacking civilian infrastructure.
“May the memory of Yevgeny Bonder live as a blessing for his family, his friends, and the Jewish people,” said the Jewish Policy Center.
