Two days after Israeli citizen Roman Brodsky was shot and killed while trying to escape the fighting in Kyiv, Ukraine, a public fundraising campaign was launched on Wednesday to help his family bring his body home to Israel for burial. The estimated cost of bringing the body to Israel is some 30,000 euros (around NIS 107,435; or $33,300).
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"I received many inquiries from good people who want to help Roman's family… and as a result, we started raising funds for the family," wrote Arthur Froman, a friend of Roman's, on Facebook.
Brodsky, 40, a father of two who was living in Ukraine, was traveling in a convoy of five cars heading toward Moldova when the vehicles became trapped between Russian and Ukrainian fire while on a highway 84 km (52 miles) south of Kyiv.
The owner of the business that employs Roman's father in the southern Israeli town of Arad also issued a public request for help.
"The family needs help paying for the private flight to bring their son home to Israel," he said.
A family friend told Israel Hayom that beyond money issues, the hazardous conditions on the ground were also a significant obstacle to securing a flight to Israel.
"The problem isn't money – no one wants to escort [Brodsky's body] from Zhytomyr [the city in which it is located] to the border between Moldova and Poland. We are on the phone with the Tourism Minister [Yoel Razvozov] and with the ambassador and are trying over and over. No one is helping; no one truly wants to help, not the ministers and not anybody else," the friend said.
Despite initial reports, it was unclear whether the fire that hit the cars in Brodsk'y convoy was carried out by Russian or Ukrainian forces.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tweeted his condolences to Brodsky's family, promising that his ministry would help his relatives in any way possible. Defense Minister Benny Gantz also tweeted his condolences, saying his "heart was with Brodsky's family" and noting that Israel was "working around the clock" to extract Israeli citizens and any Ukrainian Jews who wanted to leave.
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