Rav Menachem Mendel Cohen, the Chabad shliach in Mariupol who currently is on the Moldovan-Romanian border but is in touch with Jews in Mariupol, spoke to Israel’s Radio 103FM on Sunday night.

“The city hasn’t yet been conquered, there are battles on the streets,” he said. “From the reports I received today, there are entire areas that were completely destroyed, apart from the photos of the hospitals that the whole world saw.”

“The city has almost been completely emptied of products. There are some people who are selling whatever food is left in their yards at exorbitant prices. I know people there who were very wealthy and they somehow contact us and in the half a minute they can talk, they tell us: ‘We’re left with nothing, get us out of here.'”

“What’s happening in the streets is one army against the other. There’s a very difficult psychological war whether to go out of the house or not – if you go outside, they shoot at you. There are thousands who succeeded in leaving under fire and there are those who will remain there forever after they were shot to death on the sides of the roads or in their cars.”

“It’s a very difficult situation. Our tafkid is to be mechazeik, to encourage, and to assist in whatever way possible.”

“There are hundreds of families in Israel who haven’t slept in 14 days and follow every shred of information of what’s happening there. They see photos of houses that blew up in the middle of the night. We set up a group in which everyone’s only request is to rescue their families.”

Regarding those who flee the city, Rav Cohen said: “Whoever leaves risks his life -it’s possible he’ll make it and it’s possible he won’t. Someone called me today who made it – he fled the city two days ago under live fire with his wife and three-month-old baby.”

“People can’t survive much longer. We’re talking about a city the size of Tel Aviv – over 400,000 people – all under siege.

“All the Jewish kehillos want to help. Now, more than anything the biggest help is simply to exert public pressure for a humanitarian corridor to evacuate the residents or at least to allow food supplies in.”

“My family and I think all day about the good people we were zocheh to work with for 17 years of shlichus. We need great koach to endure this period – to be mechazeik others and wait for the moment that we’ll meet again.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)