No injuries were reported and no arrests had been made as of Friday morning, police said, adding that the fire had been extinguished.

Police said the blaze began at about 3:40 a.m. local time.“Around 3:40 a.m., a fire was started at the synagogue,” Rotterdam police said in a post on X, noting that the flames burned briefly before being brought under control.

Authorities have appealed for witnesses or anyone with relevant information to come forward as investigators work to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The fire comes days after another synagogue about 200 kilometres away in Belgium was struck by an explosion earlier this week, which authorities described as an antisemitic attack.

That incident caused property damage but no injuries.Separately, in the U.S. state of Michigan, a Lebanon-born American citizen drove a truck into a synagogue and its preschool before being shot dead, according to authorities.

Authorities and community groups have warned of rising risks to Jewish institutions worldwide following U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran and Tehran’s subsequent response.

The Rotterdam investigation is ongoing as police seek to establish the motive and identify those responsible.

Ihor Terekhov said the drone struck an area close to a residential building, causing damage to nearby property. Among those injured was a small child, he added.

The impact damaged vehicles and blew out windows in surrounding buildings, according to the mayor’s statement. Emergency services responded to the scene following the attack, which occurred in a city that has repeatedly come under Russian aerial strikes.

Kharkiv lies about 30 kilometres from the Russian border and has remained a frequent target since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In a separate incident, Russian shelling struck the southeastern city of Dnipro, injuring seven people, regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha said on the Telegram messaging platform.

Ganzha posted photographs online showing rubble scattered across streets and damage to building facades following the attack.

Kharkiv resisted early advances by Russian forces during the initial stages of the invasion and has since remained under periodic bombardment, particularly from missiles, drones and artillery launched from across the nearby border with Russia.