In an antisemitic attack, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. Photo: Screenshot

A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine, on Saturday night, as the local Jewish community continues to experience an increasing wave of antisemitic incidents.

As the Jewish holiday of Passover was coming to a close this past weekend, Chabad emissary and city Rabbi Liron Edri was alerted by the synagogue’s security system — funded by Chabad World Assistance (CWA) and supported by the Jewish Agency’s Security Fund — that several Molotov cocktails had been thrown at the building.

Edri explained that the security system — which includes shatter-resistant windows, surveillance cameras, and a rapid-response alarm network — prevented a major disaster by stopping the Molotov cocktails from breaching the building and causing serious damage.

“Thanks to the window reinforcement installed in recent months, a large fire was prevented,” the city’s rabbi said.

He also warned that the attack followed a disturbing pattern, similar to a recent antisemitic incident in Mykolaiv, a city near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, where Molotov cocktails were also thrown at a local synagogue.

“We fear this is a planned trend against Jewish communities,” Edri said. “There seems to be a growing pattern of coordinated attempts to intimidate and harm Jewish communities in Eastern Europe.”

As local authorities initiated an investigation into the attack, Edri praised their swift and effective response.

“We will not let fear stop us,” the rabbi said. “Light will dispel darkness, and I thank the police and government who immediately came to the synagogue and promised to conduct an investigation and arrest the perpetrators.”

Ukraine has experienced an increasing wave of antisemitic incidents, as Russia’s ongoing war has fueled political instability, amplified nationalist rhetoric, and sparked a rise in antisemitic discourse across certain regions.

Last week, a vehicle displaying Jewish symbols was vandalized, with its tires slashed, community emblems defaced, and paint splattered across the car’s body.

Edri condemned the antisemitic act, describing it as part of a growing wave of targeted assaults against the local Jewish community intended to harm and intimidate them.

“The vandalism was clearly targeted,” he said. “There was nothing random about it. This was an act aimed at harming us as a Jewish community.”