Rav Yonatan Markovich, a Rav in Kyiv, said on Sunday that he and other Chabad shluchim in Ukraine are remaining in the country despite warnings of an imminent Russian invasion.

Rav Markovitch told Walla News that the community is storing food and mattresses in the shul in order to prepare for the possibility of Jews gathering together there prior to an evacuation.

Markovitch said that apart from worries about a possible evacuation, he’s concerned about a rise in anti-Semitism spurred by the situation, saying that “for the nationalists, the Jews are always ultimately to blame.”

That fear is shared by Rav Yaakov Bleich, Chief Rabbi of Kyiv, and he’s disappointed that the Israeli government isn’t doing more to help, saying: “The State of Israel does nothing for the local Jewish communities in Ukraine unless they are considering making aliyah. The Israeli government cares mainly about its citizens and that’s a shame,” The Jerusalem Post reported.

Rav Bleich told The Post: “I asked Israeli officials that spoke to us: ‘What about security?’ After all, the most important thing now is to increase the confidence in the local communities that there will be no provocations against Jews, as the Russians know how to do. Secondly, communities need food aid for a few weeks. We need to store food for our nursing homes, orphanages, communities, Yeshivahs, boarding schools and others. The Diaspora Ministry said that perhaps they will be able to convince the Prime Minister’s Office to help us out.”

Both Rav Bleich and Rav Shlomo Baksht, the founder of the Tikva Jewish orphanage in Odessa, Ukraine told The Post that they’re also facing major difficulties due to the fact that the Jewish Agency, in cooperation with Israel’s Education Ministry, has ordered all its emissaries to leave Ukraine immediately.

“Our teachers were ordered to leave Ukraine,” Rav Baksht said. “We can manage the departure of the young volunteers back to Israel, but having these teachers leave abruptly during this difficult time can cause major harm to our 300 children. The teachers are morally and psychologically connected to the orphanages. If they abandon them at this difficult time – it will be devastating and will take time and resources to re-achieve the orphans’ trust.”

Rav Baksht added that the teachers are willing to stay but Israel’s Education Ministry will not allow them to do so. “They’ve asked me to assist them. They’re even willing to give up their affiliation with the Education Ministry – but were told that this can backfire at them when they return to Israel. In the past, when teachers left immediately, it caused abandonment issues that we had to deal with at length with a psychologist.”

Rav Bleich said: “The Israelis forced all the emissaries to leave but there were those who did not want to leave. Unfortunately, they were threatened and shouted at by their superiors in Israel at the Education Ministry. The emissaries wanted to stay but the Education Ministry wouldn’t allow it.”

The Chabad-affiliated Federation of Jewish Communities in the Former Soviet Union, has filled their warehouses with rice, buckwheat, and canned foods as well as with portable lanterns and batteries.

One of the Federation’s senior managers told The Post: “As we saw a few months ago during the unrest in Kazakhstan, the internet and communication systems were all taken down. The Russians are so powerful that it’s safe to assume that they may sabotage the Ukrainian communication systems. Therefore, we’ve sent dozens of communities the most updated satellite phones, and are working on buying more in order to make sure all communities in Ukraine will be able to communicate with each other and with us in a time of need.”

Rav Yitzchak Wolf, the Chief Rav of Kherson, told Kol Chai Radio: “As faithful shluchim of the Rebbe, we don’t even have the privilege of thinking about leaving. We’re the main support of the local Jewish residents and we’re staying with them.”

“We’re storing food and other supplies so that if chalilah, something happens, we’re prepared.”

Rav Wolf added that there are about 150 Chabad shluchim and their families in Ukraine.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)