Seven-year-old Leukemia patient Anastasia (Nastia) Borik, a Ukrainian citizen, was named on Wednesday as one of the victims of a direct hit on her Bat Yam home by an Iranian ballistic missile, Israeli media reported.
Borik was killed alongside three of her family members - Her grandmother, 54-year-old Olena Sokolva, and her two older cousins, 14-year-old Ilia Pashkorov and nine-year-old Konstantin Totavich.
Borik's mother, 30-year-old Maria Pashkorovia, is one of the handful of Israelis still considered missing following the Iranian attack on a Bat Yam residential building on Saturday night that killed at least nine.
According to Israeli media, the seven-year-old arrived with her family from Ukraine two years ago in order to receive treatment for her condition.
The family arrived in Israel from Odessa in December 2022 as part of Nastia's treatment; they are not Jewish, nor did they have any previous connection to Israel.
Father, the only family member to survive, fighting in Ukraine
The decision to come to a foreign country for treatment was not easy, as the family left Nastia's father, Artem, in Ukraine due to the country's wartime restriction on men leaving the country.
Artem Borik is currently on the frontlines fighting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian sources disagree as to exactly which unit Artem is currently fighting in; however, both units are considered elite special forces units involved in raiding Russian forces in occupied Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Embassy is currently arranging for the repatriation of all the bodies to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Embassy has announced it will be arranging the return of Ukrainian citizens and permanent residents who request to return to Ukraine.
Currently, around 23,000 Ukrainian citizens live in Israel, around half of whom arrived after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
President Isaac Herzog offered his condolences to her father and condemned the intentional firing of ballistic missiles into civilian apartments. "The world must condemn Iran’s indefensible crimes — and stand with Israel against Tehran's Empire of Evil."