A Jewish cemetery in Hlukhiv, Sumy Oblast in northeastern Ukraine was bombed on Sunday by Russian forces, Ukraine's Minister of Culture and Information Oleksander Tkacjenko wrote on Telegram.
Jews killed in a 1918 pogrom are buried in the cemetery, he said, and the mass grave is also the tomb of the "tzaddiks" (righteous men) Menachem Nohim David Geselyov and Israel Dov Ber Nohimov Shumyatsky. The site is special for the Jewish people, Tkacjenko said.
Neither of the two sages' tombs was damaged in what Tkacjenko deemed as being a "miraculous" miss.
One of Ukraine's chief rabbis, Reuven Asman, corroborated the attack, writing on his Telegram channel: "On the eve of May 9, the Russian army 'denazified' the Jewish cemetery in the town of Hlukhiv."
The event was reported by the press office of the United Jewish Communities of Ukraine he said. According to the organization, "The rocket hit the Jewish cemetery in Hlukhiv. The information became known from open sources and confirmed by UJCU sources."
‼️День пам’яті та примирення росія відзначила… обстрілом єврейського кладовища у Глухові, де поховані євреї - жертви погрому 1918 року. Черговий доказ того, що рашисти нічим не відрізняються від фашистів, що винищували євреїв 80 років тому. @UNESCOEU pic.twitter.com/KJ648Emjg7
— Tkachenko Oleksandr (@otkachenkoua) May 8, 2022
According to Asman, more than 600 tombstones have been preserved in the ancient cemetery, the oldest dating back to 1824.
The Ukrainian Jewish Encounter reported that in the summer of 2020, a monument to the victims of the anti-Jewish pogrom of 1918 was unveiled at the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hlukhiv, on the initiative of the chairman of that city’s Jewish community.
“Resting in this cemetery are those who perished during the pogrom of 22–23 February 1918. May their souls be tied into the knot of life,” proclaims the inscription on the monument. For the first time in a hundred years, the Kaddish was recited by a rabbi on this spot - the Encounter, citing Ukrainian Jewish outlet Hadashot, reported.
According to the report, Shumyatsky was a hassid of the Chabad movement, who was appointed rabbi of Hlukhiv by the Tsemakh Tsedek — the third Lubavitcher rebbe. The fourth Lubavitcher rebbe called Shumyatsky his “favorite.”