In Kyiv, Sa’ar meets soldier who lost family in Iranian strike on Bat Yam

During a brief diplomatic visit to Kyiv, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar meets with Artem Borik, whose family was killed in an Iranian missile strike on Bat Yam during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last month.

“With a heavy heart, I met Artem in Kyiv,” Sa’ar says in a statement from his office. “I expressed my condolences and our shared grief over this tragic and devastating loss.”

“I told Artem that all of Israel stands with him in his pain. I also heard from him about his military service on the front lines, as a soldier in the Ukrainian army,” Sa’ar adds.

In the missile strike on a residential building in Bat Yam, Artem lost his 7-year-old daughter, Nastia — who had come to Israel for cancer treatment — his wife, Maria, Maria’s mother, and two of Nastia’s cousins, ages 9 and 13.

Artem, who is serving in Ukraine’s armed forces during its war with Russia, was unable to accompany his daughter to Israel due to wartime restrictions preventing men under the age of 60 from leaving the country.