The port city of Kherson in southern Ukraine has been officially occupied - and the city's residents woke up this morning (Thursday) to a new reality.
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In a conversation with News 12, Israelis living in the city talk about life under martial law, the new rules and laws that were established to prevent provocation - and the frightening silence that prevails on the streets.
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Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak Wolf, Chabad emissary and rabbi of the Kherson region: "There is now a new reality of Russian rule, we are not playing with it. We are in a kind of situation assessment of how we deal with it.
""What is most important to us in this whole story here is to make sure that no Jew, God forbid, is harmed. That's why I asked all members of the community to obey the instructions and not to make any provocations and not to be smart now, because this could end very badly. We are trying to see how we maintain sanity in the current situation.".
""There are a lot of Russian armored vehicles on the streets with soldiers," the rabbi added. "I really don't care about that, what we're interested in right now is saving lives. I get calls about people who are stuck without food, about old people who can't leave their homes. I have some very dear people here who just keep traveling to these places with caution.".
Rabbi Wolf describes a fragile reality, full of instructions from the Russian army and also great fear: "There are explicit instructions on how to behave. You are not allowed to drive fast, you are not allowed to walk in groups. These are the Russian instructions, we do not play with it. There is a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. that is enforced very strictly. From 6 a.m. you can leave the house, without groups, one by one. I now go out to the synagogue carefully. I will drive at 5 kilometers per hour and leave the house with a passport.".
Edward (a pseudonym) who is in the city also described a difficult reality. "We are under siege, there are hundreds of Jews here," he said. "Even in the Chabad house, there are a lot of people here and now everyone is locked in their apartments. There is a lot of army in the streets and it is full of chaos. They are looting everything here and everything is falling apart. The Russians are listening to us, I am sure of it. We are very afraid of them, we don't want to make mistakes with them, I am not at all sure that I want to talk to you. They would know for sure that I did it and then who knows what will happen.".
Nina, a resident of the city, also spoke about the new 'rules' in an interview with the BBC: "Yesterday no one left the house because it was too dangerous, but today people are going out, trying to buy some food.
""We have some rules to follow. They agreed with our government that we are not allowed to provoke the Russian soldiers. We cannot be in groups, we cannot drive fast in cars. We have to be prepared to stop and show what we have in the car and not provoke anyone.".
After many hours of deprivation, Nina said that the city's residents have access to water, electricity and the internet. "I just hope it won't take too long for us to be okay. All the ordinary people are against the whole war, against fighting, but we can't do anything.".
