Russian bombings severely damaged a Jewish elementary school and a Jewish orphanage in Odesa on Wednesday night, Southern Ukraine and Odesa Chief Rabbi Avraham Wolff and Chabad reported Thursday. As a result, the school was temporarily shuttered.
The Chabad Ohr Avner school suffered a direct hit, and the Mishpacha Ukraine orphanage was devastated by nearby explosions. There were no casualties, Wolff told The Jerusalem Post.
The orphanage’s caregivers barely had time to guide the children to the shelter, he said.
“We barely had time to close the door, and then the big explosion came,” he added. “It shook the entire street, but the speed with which we acted was more important than ever this time. We realized that right next to us was a direct and fatal hit.”
The school was rendered unusable, and students were temporarily transferred to another Jewish school, Wolff told the Post. Chabad said some of the children had to sit in hallways and shelters for classes.
Glass, window frames, and furniture needed to be replaced or repaired, Wolff said. With the help of the global Jewish community, the school could resume function within a few months, he added.
Jewish sites repeatedly hit in Russian attacks
The Russian attacks on Odesa ebb and recede, and Jewish sites are repeatedly hit during the attacks on civilian population centers, Wolff said.
The most vulnerable populations are the orphans and the elderly, including about 50 Holocaust survivors, he said. Many of the survivors were over 90 years old, he added.
“This is where most of our energy is invested: to take care of their integrity, their well-being, and their normal lives,” Wolff said.
A suicide drone struck a synagogue in Odesa last August. A missile hit Hillel International’s building in 2023.