Rabbi Menachem Mendel Cohen, a Chabad emissary in the city of Mariupol, spoke tonight (Sunday) about the difficult scenes from the sunken city in a very difficult humanitarian situation.
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“The city has not yet been conquered, there are battles within the streets,” Rabbi Mendel said in pain in an interview with 103FM. “From the reports I received today, there are entire areas that have been completely destroyed, except for the pictures that the whole world has seen of the hospitals.
“The city has been almost completely emptied of products. It is true that there are those who sell in the yards at exorbitant prices some leftover food products. I know people who were very rich and by no means do they call and have half a minute, and they can convey the message ‘we are without anything – get us out of here’ “.
He said, “It is army against army what is happening there in the streets. There is a very hard war of nerves, there is a psychological war yes go out no go out, go out shoot them. There are thousands who managed to get out under fire and there are those who will remain forever until by the side of the road or in the car after they are shot to death.
“It is a very difficult situation, our job is to strengthen, encourage and help in whatever way possible. There is an internal request from everyone involved with the city to take them out. We have set up a group that everyone, their only request is to take the family out. “In the middle of the night, they see a picture of a house that exploded – there are hundreds of families in Israel who have not slept for 14 days and follow every bit of information about what is happening there.”
On the escape of the residents from the city, he said: “Whoever leaves takes his risk, that he may come and may not. Today I was called by a guy who left town two days ago. Under live fire he managed to reach, he, his wife and a 3-month-old baby.
“All the Jewish communities and everyone wants to help, now more than anything, the biggest help is simply to press for a humanitarian corridor to get the people out or at least to let food in there.
“People can not survive much longer. We are talking about a city the size of Tel Aviv, more than 400,000 people and all under siege.
“My family and I all day remember the good people we were privileged to work with in the 17 years of the mission. We need very large forces to go through this period, strengthen the others and wait for the moment when we will meet them here. “