Russia-Ukraine War

"Hundreds of tanks, civilians had no chance": When Kherson fell to the Russian army

Hundreds of thousands of Kherson residents woke up on Tuesday morning to a new reality.

"Heavy machine gun fire and small arms, hundreds of soldiers in every corner," the Chabad rabbi described the moments of occupation by the Russian army, which is now imposing military rule on the city. "Many families were injured, 300 people were killed."

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03/03/2022

Thursday, 03 March 2022, 11:41 Updated: 11:53

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In the video: Documentation of a dam explosion in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine (Walla system!)

"Hundreds of tanks, hundreds of APCs, hundreds of soldiers, military rule in the city" - this is how the rabbi of Chabad in Kherson, Yosef Yitzhak Wolf, described today (Thursday) the situation in the city occupied by the Russian army.

"The picture is starting to clear up slowly, everything here while in motion," he told 103FM in an interview.

"Until Monday night, we were still walking around the city to distribute food to hundreds of families."

Soldiers from the Russian army began entering the city on Tuesday morning.

"We woke up to a very difficult day," the rabbi repeated.

"From 07:00 to 14: 00-15: 00 there were gunshots of heavy machine guns and small arms and explosions, all within a radius of 600-500 meters from our house."

According to Rabbi Wolf, 300 people were killed in the invasion.

"By Tuesday evening, hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles had already entered the city, with hundreds of soldiers on every corner," he described.

"They are on all the main arteries, and not only, and a completely quiet place has been created here."

More on Walla!

The city of Kherson was occupied by the Russians, about a million Ukrainian refugees fled the country

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"Everything is here in motion."

Remains of Russian shelling in Ukraine (Photo: Reuters)

The rabbi painted a grim picture, according to which Kherson was conquered without resistance.

"In the first place, the citizens had no chance," he said.

"Unfortunately for the rabbi, many families were injured."

Wolf noted that there are Israelis in the city, "who are here regularly, we have been in fairly continuous contact with them for years, some of whom pray regularly in our synagogue."

Wolf said he "begged everyone" not to leave the house until the situation became clear, "and now it's actually starting to clear up."

Meanwhile, the city has military rule.

"Last night the mayor posted the instructions on the official website after he reached an agreement with the Russian commander here on the spot," Rabbi Wolf noted.

"From 20:00 to 06:00, a curfew that will be observed very severely."

Traffic on the streets during the day will only be allowed for one or two people per vehicle;

Travel in vehicles will be allowed up to a certain speed, and citizens have been instructed to be ready to have their vehicle inspected at any given moment.

Rabbi Wolf said he was moved by the love he received from the people of Israel.

"The amounts of love are just amazing, it can't be explained," he concluded.

"The people of Israel were revealed in their glory."

The rest of the citizens of Ukraine, who have not fled the country, live in fear and on high alert from being next in line.

Rabbi Moshe Reuven Asman called on the whole world to help Ukraine.

"There is harm to civilians here, Russians are hurting civilians. What is happening here is terrible," he said.

"What can be helped, with medicine, with humanitarian things - must be helped, because there could be a catastrophe here."

According to Rabbi Asman, hundreds of civilians flee daily through the borders of Ukraine.

"There are others who are fleeing, there are those who cannot escape, there are those we need to reach and it is very difficult," he said.

"There are hundreds of thousands, old men and women sitting in homes, there is no one to help them and we have organized the logistics, help, food, medicine and more."

Rabbi Asman helps citizens near Kiev.

"I have a lot of food, we feed several hundred people every day," he said, adding that the main problem is with the fuel supply.

"There are shots all the time," he added.

According to him, anyone trying to get out or get into Kiev by train is at risk.

"I keep getting news, for example, yesterday one woman and her husband were driving on the roads, suddenly they saw Russians, without warning, just shot at a vehicle, they escaped and saw some vehicles that killed people there," he said.

"They're just hiding in the village right now. I can not find out where."

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