Jewish Ukrainian soldier Anton Beskonechniy was laid to rest on Wednesday in Mykolaiv after having been killed while fighting on the front against Russia.
The Chabad Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine said that the family had told Mykolaiv Rabbi Shalom Gottlieb his body had been torn apart by Russian munitions, and only his lower limbs remained to be buried.
“It was a very difficult, heartbreaking funeral for a young man who gave his life at the front,” Gottlieb said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I did not know the late Anton in his lifetime and it was only after his death that his family members contacted us and requested a Jewish burial.”
The federation said that since the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022 dozens of Jewish soldiers had been killed.
Many had not yet been given proper Jewish burials.