She Came to Israel for Life. An Iranian Missile Took It Away

Bat Yam, Israel — Seven-year-old Nastya Buryk had already survived what no child should. She escaped Russia’s war on Ukraine, fled her hometown of Odesa, and arrived in Israel with her mother, grandmother, and two brothers, clinging to hope. Nastya was battling leukemia — and Israel, with its world-renowned hospitals and calm compared to Ukraine, offered a lifeline.

But last week, that hope was shattered in the most horrifying way. An Iranian missile, launched during the latest wave of attacks, struck Bat Yam and killed five members of the same Ukrainian family: Nastya, her 9-year-old brother Kostyantyn, her 13-year-old brother Illia, their mother Maria Peshkureva, and grandmother Lena.

The father, Artem Buryk still in Ukraine serving on the front lines, survived — but lost everything.

The family had only been in Israel a short while. The boys had enrolled in a local school. Maria, the mother, was by Nastya’s side during her difficult treatment. They weren’t tourists. They weren’t fighters. They were a family in search of sanctuary.

But sanctuary, even in Israel, proved fleeting.

7-year-old Nastia Buryk. (Courtesy)

Iran’s Fingerprints on Civilian Death

According to local reports, the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for launching a new, heavier type of missile — possibly the Sejjil — during this attack wave. Though Israel’s Arrow 3 air defense system intercepted many, one missile got through.

Its impact site was a residential building in Bat Yam — far from any military target. The strike was not just random; it was a reminder: Iranian aggression doesn’t distinguish between soldier and child, battlefield and cancer ward.

The scene of an apartment building destroyed by an Iranian ballistic missile impact, in Bat Yam, June 15, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Final Thoughts

As a journalist covering both Israel and Ukraine, I’ve seen this pattern before. Russia targets maternity hospitals in Mariupol, kills civilians in Kiyiv. Iran does the same. Two regimes, thousands of miles apart, united by one tactic: the intentional targeting of civilians.

They did not die in Ukraine. They were not killed in a car crash or natural disaster. They were murdered by a missile funded, designed, and launched by a regime that speaks openly about its goal to destroy Israel.

Nastya came to Israel to survive leukemia. She died under Iranian fire.

Her story is not just tragic — it is an indictment of those who allow regimes like Iran and Russia to continue their campaigns of terror with impunity.

Let her name be heard. Let her memory be honored not only with tears — but with truth, clarity, and action.