A Jew from Warsaw, Poland who was serving as a foreign volunteer in the Ukrainian army was killed at the war front. Daniel Stieber, z’l, 35, is the son of a member of the Board of Trustees of the Choral Synagogue in Warsaw.

As YWN reported last week, another Jew, Vladislav Shein, z’l, a 21-year-old member of the Jewish kehilla in Dnipro, Ukraine was killed last month at the war front. It is estimated that dozens of Jewish-Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives fighting against the Russians since the war began.

According to reports on social media in Ukraine, Steiber, z’l was killed in a battle near Bakhmut, a city in Donetsk Oblast where there has been intense fighting in recent days with hundreds of casualties on both sides despite the fact that the area has no strategic value for Russia.

“We are scratching our heads,” a Western official told AFP regarding Russia’s focus on Bakhmut. “We don’t know the answer. The costs associated with six months of brutal, grinding, and attrition-based combat around Bakhmut far outweigh any operational advantage that the Russians can obtain from taking Bakhmut.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that “the frontline situation remains very difficult in the key areas of Donbas – Bakhmut, Soledar, Marinka, Kreminna. There is no area that has not been damaged by shells and fire. The occupiers have destroyed Bakhmut, and turned it into burnt ruins.”

The Guardian reported earlier this week that Russia is sending waves of soldiers to the Donbas area, including Wagner Group mercenaries, convicts, and newly trained soldiers.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)