A Russian missile exploded over the weekend near the central railway station of the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine. Very close to the place where the missile exploded, an ambulance bus for rescuing Jews of the Jewish Federation in Ukraine was parked.
The bus-ambulance that was hit was damaged on its right side and in the front, and its windshields were smashed and cracked. At the time of the explosion, there were two crew members in the bus-ambulance who were miraculously saved, but they were terrified and needed first aid on the spot.
Much damage was caused to cars and other property in the area where the Russian missile hit.
Rabbi Meir Stembler, Chabad emissary and chairman of the Federation of Communities, said: “Only by a miracle were there no bodily harm in this incident, and we fear what is to come. The war is escalating and the panic is increasing, as is the flow of requests for rescues to us. Since the beginning of the war, we have rescued about 40 A thousand Jews by various means – including on specially hired trains. The damage to the bus-ambulance will interfere with the rescues, until we repair the damage, but we continue our activity together with the rabbis of the cities and Chabad messengers. As long as there are Jews here who need us – we are here by their side.”
The bus-ambulance that was hit is part of a fleet of 6 buses-ambulances, each with 2 floors. The rescue vehicles are operated by the Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine. The vehicles were purchased at the beginning of the war, equipped with beds intended for the sick and elderly, and are used for long rescue trips from the cities in the east of the country, on a daily basis. The rescuers are transferred to the huge refugee camp established by the Jewish Federation in Hungary, or to the airports in Warsaw in Poland and Chisinau in Moldova, from where they are flown to Israel.