Many Chabad Rabbanim who until now have faithfully remained in Ukraine and tended to local Jews, had no choice but to flee Ukraine overnight Monday as the danger in the country increases and civilian sites are being targeted by the Russian forces.

A group of Chabad Rabbanim and yeshivah bochurim fled overnight Monday from Dnipro [formerly called Dnipropetrovsk] in eastern Ukraine on an 11-hour train ride to Odessa arriving in the city Tuesday morning and crossing in Moldova on Tuesday afternoon.

One of the passengers on the bus said: “There’s very heavy shelling. The Russians began harming civilians and the shluchim received unequivocal instructions to leave immediately.”

Chabad shlichim on the bus has asked Am Yisrael to daven as more shlichim are on the way to the border, especially from Kharkiv, where the Russians are bombing almost non-stop, asking Jews to recite Tehillim 20 and 120 for the safety of their journey.

One of the Chabad shlichim on the bus was HaRav Moshe Weber of Dnipro and his family. Rav Weber told Arutz Sheva: “The situation became more complicated and several families decided to leave.”

Rav Weber added that he has mixed feelings since until recently, the situation in Dnipro was relatively calm. “It’s true there’s a blackout, nothing works and the streets are deserted. From 8 p.m. it’s forbidden to leave, but Baruch Hashem nothing terrible had occurred. But there was a lot of pressure. A town nearby was taken and there is very strong fighting there so we didn’t take the risk. We have families and whoever could evacuate did so.”

There are about 50,000 Jews in Dnipro and Rav Weber said that about 30,000 of them are connected to the dozens of Chabad shlichim in the city.

“Middle-aged people who can leave the house come to the shul,” he said. “The shul is completely full all day.”

“We bring food to the homes of the elderly and those who can’t leave their beds and try to keep their morale up but we see the fear in their eyes. They don’t know what their future holds. We, as Israelis, have Israeli passports, but they can’t leave.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)