While Ukraine is attacking with all its might deep inside Russia, in a way that astounds the world and the Russian people, the Russian army continues to attack civilian targets in Ukraine and even occupies territory in the districts along the front lines.
Last month, the Russians claimed to have captured the strategic city of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk region and are also advancing in other regions.
To break the population and the military home front, they are bombing civilian energy and water facilities, causing a humanitarian crisis. The most acute crisis is currently prevailing in the city of Kherson, where access to safe drinking water has become a difficult and impossible challenge, due to repeated attacks on river dams in the area from which drinking water is pumped, as well as on the energy network - which causes the pumps, water supply and, unfortunately, also the refrigeration of medicines to stop working.
Because of this, the city's rabbi and Chabad emissary, Rabbi Yossi Wolf, turned to the Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine (FJCU) and requested urgent humanitarian assistance for the hundreds of Jews who still remained in the city.
Indeed, after military approvals were obtained for the truck to pass into the bombed city near the front, five aid workers from the Federation set off in a truck that included barrels of drinking water, six-packs of water for each family, as well as a large amount of humanitarian aid that included medicine, baby food, diapers, wipes, plenty of clothing for all ages, packages of toilet paper, and hygiene and toiletry products for each family.
Although the situation in Kherson has not been pleasant, to say the least, since the beginning of the war, the last time such a truck set out on its journey was about three and a half years ago, with the liberation of the city from the Russians who occupied it.
Even now, it took the aid truck more than 30 hours to travel the 300 kilometers between the city of Dnipro, where the Federation's offices and warehouses are located, and Kherson. This is due to the numerous roadblocks on the way to the city, which is closed to civilians due to frequent bombings, fears of landmines, and the fact that trucks can only enter the city with a military escort.
Only contacts made by the heads of the 'Federation' with the heads of the Ukrainian army and government ultimately led to the long-awaited approval and the truck entered the city.
Upon its arrival at the synagogue plaza and the central Chabad house, several of the city's Jews helped unload it for a long hour.
At the same time, in recent days, an operation to deliver clothing and toiletries and hygiene products to the homes of Jews in a number of small towns in the frontline area ahead of the holiday month was completed.
