An Israeli national was killed by Russian shelling in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday.
The man - identified as 49-year-old Sergei Boltinsky - was reportedly killed on March 24, while making his way to one of the besieged city’s synagogues in order to enquire on how to evacuate himself and his family from Mariupol.
Boltinsky immigrated to Israel about 12 years ago, and three years later returned to Ukraine, where he met his second wife, Natalia.
Two days after his death, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews NGO aided Boltinsky’s 71-years-old mother Tamara and 16-years-old nephew Nikita to flee Mariupol, and make their way to Israel via a special rescue flight from Moldova.
His widow Natalia and their seven-year-old daughter Elizabetha, both of whom received special humanitarian visas, are also expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days.
"Since the war we have tried to escape the city but have not succeeded. We lived in very difficult conditions, without water, gas, electricity and without the possibility of communicating with the outside world,” said Natalia shortly after her husband’s death,
“Who could have imagined that war would break out and that Sergei would die? We did not believe Russia would attack Ukraine.
“After Sergei was killed we were not allowed to see his body, we do not even know where he is buried. The whole city is devastated. It was impossible to go out to identify the body and certainly not to hold a funeral,” said Natalia, who added she and her daughter were now in Moldova thanks to The Fellowship’s efforts.
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Rescue workers at a building destroyed by Russian shelling in Mariupol
(Photo: Reuters)
"It saved us from hell and now it will help us get to Israel. Sergei and I got married in a civil wedding and we never registered our marriage or our joint daughter.”
Yael Eckstein, CEO of The Fellowship, said: "There are many cases like that of Natalia and Sergei, heartbreaking stories of people who lost everything in an instant… We are proud to be at the forefront of helping our brothers and sisters immigrate to Israel.”
Boltinsky's death follows that of Roman Brodsky, a 42-years-old Israeli national who was killed over two months ago while trying to flee to Moldova, by a Ukrainian militia that mistook him for a Russian combatant.