“Everything was shaking”: The Jewish community of Kyiv endured a difficult night under Russian attack

The Israeli publication Israel Hayom on July 2, 2026, reported on the night drama of the Jewish community in Kyiv during one of the heaviest Russian attacks in recent months.

According to the publication, Kyiv endured 12 consecutive hours under missile and drone strikes — approximately from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM.

The city was shaken by explosions, people took shelter in the metro and shelters, and authorities preemptively closed gas stations to avoid additional catastrophes in case of direct hits.

The article pays special attention to the Jewish community “Simcha” in Kyiv and families associated with Chabad.

For them, this night was especially difficult: dozens of families had just returned from a nine-day vacation camp in the Carpathians, where children and parents could at least briefly escape the constant tension of war.

But returning to Kyiv turned out to be a return directly to the reality of Russian aggression.

Rabbi Simcha Levenhartz, one of Chabad’s emissaries in Kyiv, described this night with words that are hard to perceive as a regular news quote.

According to him, “the whole city was shaking violently, explosions did not stop, it was impossible to close an eye”.

These words show not only military statistics but the human condition of a city where children, elderly people, families, rabbis, volunteers, and congregants are once again forced to live between prayer, shelter, and sirens.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, on the night of July 2, 2026, Russia used 570 aerial attack means against Ukraine: 496 drones and 74 missiles of various types.

The Ukrainian air defense destroyed most of the targets, but the strikes still led to destruction and casualties.

The Russian attack was primarily aimed at Kyiv and became one of the largest combined attacks in recent times.

For the Jewish community, this night was another reminder: the war in Ukraine is not a distant political issue or an abstract European chronicle.

It is the daily reality of Jewish families who live in Kyiv, pray in Kyiv synagogues, raise children, help the elderly, and stay close to their community even when the city is under fire all night.

Israel Hayom writes that despite the sleepless night and feeling of helplessness, by morning Kyiv’s synagogues were full.

Hundreds of Jews came for the morning prayer on the fast day.

This is an important detail: after a night of explosions, people were not just trying to return to normal life — they came to where the community maintains its inner support.

Simultaneously, humanitarian aid from JRNU was deployed.

Hot meals were distributed in community centers, and volunteers delivered them to the elderly, sick, and immobile people who could not leave their homes under the threat of new strikes.

For Israel, this story should sound especially close.

Israeli society knows well what night alarms, shelters, fear for children, and constant readiness for an attack are.

But that is why it is important to see the Ukrainian reality without distance and indifference.

Jewish communities in Ukraine remain part of the larger Jewish world, and their pain should not disappear behind dry formulations of international politics.

NANews — News of Israel considers it important to pay attention to such stories.

Because behind every attack are not only missiles, drones, and military reports but also specific people: a child who returned from camp yesterday; an elderly person to whom a volunteer brings food; a rabbi who meets people in the synagogue in the morning after a sleepless night.

Russian terrorists are trying to destroy cities, break civilian life, and turn fear into everyday life.

But in Kyiv, as in many other cities in Ukraine, communities continue to live, help each other, and maintain dignity.

This story from Kyiv is yet another testament that the war in Ukraine remains a war against civilians, against families, against communities, against the very possibility of normal life.

And when an Israeli publication writes about the Jewish community in Kyiv, it is not just foreign news.

It is a reminder of connection, responsibility, and memory.

NANews — News of Israel will continue to monitor how Jewish communities in Ukraine endure the war, help people, and sustain life where Russia daily tries to bring destruction.