Chief Rabbi Yaakov Bleich

Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine
Serving Ukrainian Jewry since 1990
Leading the Great Choral Synagogue
Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦 | ✡️ עם ישראל חי

[Gianl1974 @Gianl1974]

He was tortured so severely that for two weeks he could not even remember who he was. His comrades had to carry him and feed him with a spoon.

Yet, even before that—naked, blindfolded, and enduring blows from boots and rubber-soled shoes—he would smile. Deliberately.

It was this smile that deeply unsettled his torturers and thwarted their plans.

Pavlo Shatokhin, known by the call sign "Shakh," was a Marine. He defended Mariupol, providing cover for the Azov fighters, and eventually broke out of the Azovstal steel plant alongside his comrades.

Then came the "brutal" captivity—Olenivka, in the barracks. The food was served so hot it was impossible to eat; the water reeked of a swamp. Taking bread out of the mess hall was strictly forbidden.

One of the guards, nicknamed "Kirusha," tortured two Ukrainians to death.

Then came an even worse ordeal: captivity in Taganrog, at the Russian detention center in Kamishin. What they called "processing" was, in reality, a gauntlet of torture.

Blindfolded and with his hands bound, a prisoner would be shoved through a line of guards. Pavlo suffered a broken rib, and his internal organs were severely damaged.

Then, he was given five minutes to undress for a search—a process involving "slashing" and the tearing away of skin—followed by being forced to crawl through the mud while a stun gun was applied to his damp back.

Later, in a cell, eight guards demanded he sing the Russian national anthem. He refused.

For this, he was dragged out and beaten so viciously that he lost consciousness. This happened the very next day. For two weeks, Pavlo was in a vegetative state. His fellow prisoners fed him with a spoon and carried him in their arms to the medical center.
They tortured him systematically—using electric shock devices and plastic pipes with iron keys attached to the ends, striking his legs so severely that he required surgery.

They used a rubber mallet, striking him on the head with the handle—a grim joke among the prisoners: "We’ll end up looking like dragons."

In that place, a "banya" (bath) didn't mean washing; it meant a beating.

Yet, through it all, there was resistance. In their cell, turning away from the security cameras, the men would place their hands over their hearts and silently sing the Ukrainian national anthem.

Pavlo recalls: "They were furious because I smiled at them. Driven by adrenaline, I would start shouting and smiling. Sometimes, it even helped me endure the things I had to face afterward."

During more than three years of captivity, he received only one letter—from his sister. It contained just seven words, which he turned into a mantra, reading it every single day.

He says: "When they turned on the radio and we heard about the Kursk region, it gave us an incredible boost. It meant that Ukraine still exists, that Ukraine is in control and is striking back with a powerful blow."

When he was finally released, he weighed 54 kilograms—having lost nearly 80 kilograms during his imprisonment.

His sister didn't recognize him in the video; she only knew it was him by his gestures, his eyes, and a scar.

Pavlo underwent several surgeries and rehabilitation in Ukraine, Lithuania, and Latvia—and has since returned to duty.

He remains an officer in the maritime security forces. And keep smiling.

[Uri Kurlianchik @VerminusM]

Eric Hoffer wrote this article about Israel almost 60 years go. It reads like it was written yesterday.

"The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.
Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it, Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchmen. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese-and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab. Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis.
Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace. Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world.
Other nations when they are defeated survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews.
No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Negroes are executed in Rhodesia. But when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.
The Swedes, who are ready to break of diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.
The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources. Yet at this moment Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general.
I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish the holocaust will be upon us."

[𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐊𝐨𝐦𝐬𝐚 🇪🇺🇵🇱🇺🇦 @Tweet4AnnaNAFO]

1/ 🇷🇸🇷🇺 Vučić just lost Serbia.

russia’s most useful Balkan ally called a snap election to cling to power. Students who spent 2 yrs in the streets crushed him.

Moscow spent a decade buying influence with cheap gas & political cover.

Europe didn't oust him. Serbians did.

[Chief Rabbi Yaakov Bleich @UkraineRabbi]

🇺🇦 Kyiv is enduring another night of intense Russian missile strikes, with powerful explosions echoing across the Ukrainian capital.

My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Kyiv, especially the families seeking safety amid these attacks.

[UAVoyager🇺🇦 @CrimeanVoyager]

More than 200 Ukrainian POWs have been killed in russian captivity.

They survived the battlefield. They did not survive russian captivity.

Their deaths demand justice. russia must be held accountable.

[Gianl1974 @Gianl1974]

You absolutely must watch Zelensky’s interview with Stephen Bartlett. On camera, we see a man who is deeply weary—at times on the verge of collapse—someone who has spent nearly five years living under the constant, direct pressure of war. From the very first minutes, his exhaustion is palpable. When asked the standard question, "How are you?", he replies that he sleeps very little, spending his nights on the phone with military commanders, trying to shift the few remaining air-defense assets from one region to another.

He shares two particularly poignant stories. The first concerns a missile that struck a playground in a matter of seconds; parents watched, through their windows, as their own children were torn apart before their eyes.

The second involves presenting posthumous honors to the families of fallen soldiers: "You hand a medal to a father—you feel the strength in his hand—and he asks, in a hushed voice, 'May we have a hug?' In that moment, I simply cease to exist. Those people are gone, and the survivors will never be the same again."

When the host tries to take him back in time—showing him old photographs from Kryvyi Rih, images from his university years in the KVN comedy troupe, his voice work for *Paddington*, or scenes from the series *Servant of the People*—Zelensky looks on with indifference, as if these things belonged to someone else’s life.
He also recalls February 2022, devoid of any heroic rhetoric. He describes how, for the first twenty days, he was driven purely by adrenaline—rushing from office to office, making endless phone calls, and scrambling to organize supplies of food and water for Kyiv. The full weight of his fear, and the stark realization of what had truly transpired, only hit him three weeks later, when mass graves containing the bodies of hundreds of residents were discovered in Bucha. It is precisely through the example of Bucha that he explains why he is so deeply irritated by those who advise him to reach a quick agreement with everyone: "Imagine if a mass grave were discovered in the United States or Great Britain containing 500 people who had been tortured, their hands bound. How could one simply forgive all that?"
The rest of the conversation centers on the stalemate in which the Ukrainians—and everyone else—find themselves. Zelensky explains the reasons for the war in simple terms: Moscow is attempting to forcibly rebuild the Soviet empire, a project that would be definitively shattered by Ukraine’s move toward Europe. Yet, when he speaks about the present, his words reveal a profound sense of frustration.

Nearly a fifth of the territory is occupied, the east of the country is under heavy bombardment, cities are left without electricity, and people are dying every single day. Meanwhile, any discussion of a ceasefire would require Kyiv to withdraw from its fortified positions—with no guarantee that the offensive wouldn't simply resume within a year.

Finally, the conversation turns to the subject of Trump and the attacks on oil facilities. Trump has publicly criticized Zelensky for striking Russian refineries, fearing that such actions could lead to a sharp rise in diesel prices for American farmers ahead of the elections.
It is here that it becomes clear just how much this attitude hurts Zelensky: his country is in flames, Moscow has rejected his proposal for a mutual halt to attacks on energy infrastructure, and the Americans are sending Patriot missiles—paid for by Europe—to the Middle East—yet he is the one being blamed for fuel prices in the United States.

The entire conversation leaves a rather bleak impression. A man trapped between the daily deaths in his own country and the pragmatic negotiations of allies—who have their own elections and political calculations to consider—can no longer distance himself from it all.
Look at it.

Ayan Sharipbayev

[Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 @andrii_sybiha]

As long as Russia believes it can achieve the goals of its invasion — goals it cannot achieve on the battlefield — by having anyone pressure Ukraine into capitulation, it will not enter serious negotiations.

That is why maintaining and increasing pressure on Russia remains critical to ending this war.

Peace through strength is the only strategy that works. But that strength must be applied to the aggressor, not to the country defending itself.

This war cannot be ended by stopping Ukraine's resistance. It can only be ended by stopping the aggressor's attacks.

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

To stop the killings, murderer Putin must be stopped. He is the one who started and is waging the war in Ukraine.

The Russian troops who are waging the war in Ukraine are mostly contract soldiers. They are people who went to a foreign country to kill civilians for money. Some of the Russian soldiers are prisoners who get their prison sentences annulled. There are also some mercenaries. The percentage of those who "didn't have a choice" is very low.

This video contains interceptions of conversations between Russian soldiers. They talk about the atrocities they do in Ukraine. There are thousands of documented cases where Russian soldiers kill Ukrainian civilians in several regions of Ukraine. They are confirmed by Ukrainian courts and international investigators and prosecutors.

The slaughter must indeed stop. This means Putin must be stopped.

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Snyder: I visited the front in Ukraine. Things look pretty good. A Russian breakthrough seems pretty unlikely, and having to mobilize is a bad sign for Russia.

Ukrainians gain more territory than they lose and inflict many times more casualties. 1/

[Nikki Haley @NikkiHaley]

For Putin, the suffering is the point.

The war he started has killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians, kidnapped more than 20,000 children, and bombed children’s hospitals. And every winter, Russia attacks Ukraine’s power grid to leave families freezing in the dark.

Watch @ZelenskyyUa at @HudsonInstitute on the human cost of Putin’s war.

[Steven Bartlett @StevenBartlett]

Almost 6 million people have watched the interview with @ZelenskyyUa in just 3 days!

A conversation I will never forget.

He spoke in Ukrainian, we both had ear pieces in with human translators in a room next door, and we translated what he said into English afterwards.

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

WOW, Americans overwhelmingly support Ukraine over Russia, 66% in favor, with only 3% for Russia.

trump is part of that 3%, more proof he's completely out of touch with Americans.

trump is a Russian asset.

[Вал Мишель @VALMICHEL7]

Удары по русской нефтянке бесят Трампа.

Удары по украинским школам, больницам, домам — нет.
Ни единого осуждения.
Ни разу.
Ноет о потерях русских оккупантов и о том, как они не взяли Киев, потому что "застряли".
И обвиняет Зеленского.

Подельник Путина.

[Matthias 🖤❤️💛 @MatthiasHartel]

Liebesgrüße aus Moskau

Spritpreise steigen in für Russen astronomische Höhen. In vielen Landesteilen und auf der Krim gibt es Abgabebeschränkungen von oft nur 20 Litern pro Tankvorgang sowie lange Warteschlangen.

Die Inflationsrate liegt in Russland aktuell bei 6,3 % bis 6,8 %, ist also doppelt so hoch wie hier bei uns. Alles wird ständig teurer. Arbeitsplätze sind auf dem Land, in der breiten Fläche kaum noch vorhanden. Für Privat-Kredite stehen bis zu 20 Prozent Zinsen an, für Firmen bis zu 25 Prozent. So investiert natürlich niemand mehr in irgendwas.

Die angeblich so stolzen Russen wollen keinen LADA kaufen, Autos aus dem Westen gibt es nicht mehr, also fahren sie jetzt halt Chinesen.

Der gesamte Haushalt für Russland wird 2026 ca. 550 Milliarden Dollar betragen.

Die Kriegsausgaben belaufen sich für 2026 auf geschätzte 200 Milliarden Dollar, so das die Einnahmen die Ausgaben schon lange nicht mehr decken. Das Haushaltsdefizit liegt bei ca. 88 Milliarden Dollar.

Finanziell sieht es also nicht gut aus für Putin, gar nicht gut.

Die Infrastruktur in Russland geht den Bach runter, es wird nichts mehr gemacht, da kein Geld mehr dafür da ist. Überall stehen halbfertige Gebäude die in ��ffentlicher Hand sind, zum Beispiel Schulen und werden nicht fertig gebaut.

Eine russische Industrie im klassischen Sinne gibt es fast nicht mehr. Das Land lebt von der Rohstoffschöpfung und den Kriegsgütern die hergestellt werden. Alles andere wird einfach in China gekauft.

Die Menschen haben eine unterschwellige Angst, vor allem vor einer drohenden nächsten Mobilmachung, bei der es jeden Mann erwischen kann. Reservisten können auch noch mit einem Alter von 60 Jahren einberufen werden.

Und nun haben die Russen auch noch Angst vor Drohnenangriffen aus der Ukraine. Über den Krieg redet niemand, ist alles tabu.

Fresse halten, weg ducken und hoffen das der Kelch an einem vorüber geht, ist die Devise.

Die Sowjetunion lässt schön grüßen und wir DDR-Bürger kennen das ja.

Putin weiß das natürlich alles, denn er ist ja nicht dumm, tut aber absolut nichts dagegen. Gar nichts, denn die Menschen im eigenen Land sind im genau so egal, wie die Menschen in der Ukraine.

Und was kann das russische Volk dagegen tun? Ich glaube sie warten auf ein Wunder.

Teilen und kommentieren wie immer erwünscht. 🙏

[WW3finalboss @WW3finalboss]

BUDANOV SAYS UKRAINE IS DESTROYING SOMETHING PUTIN CANNOT REBUILD: RUSSIA’S REPUTATION 🇺🇦🇷🇺

Kyrylo Budanov believes Ukraine’s campaign against Russia is inflicting damage far beyond destroyed infrastructure and financial losses. It is dismantling the image of a military superpower that Moscow spent decades cultivating.

“Russia is suffering a reputational blow. That is the most important thing. Oil prices may somehow stabilize, the war will end — things will normalize. But the reputational damage will last for a very long time.”

For years, the Kremlin relied on the perception that Russian military power was overwhelming and that its territory was effectively beyond the reach of its adversaries.

Ukraine has challenged both assumptions. Russian forces have failed to achieve a decisive victory, while Ukrainian drones have demonstrated that even strategically important facilities deep inside Russia are vulnerable.

Oil infrastructure can be repaired. Markets can recover. Military equipment can eventually be replaced. But restoring the credibility of a military power whose weaknesses have been exposed is a different challenge altogether.

Budanov’s final words leave little doubt about Ukraine’s determination to continue applying pressure.

“We are not stopping.”

For Budanov, the lasting consequence of Russia’s invasion may be the damage Moscow has inflicted on its own image of invincibility.

[KyivPost @KyivPost]

Russian forces struck Kharkiv’s last operating Epicentr hypermarket on Saturday, obliterating the venue in a huge fire.

A secondary strike directly targeted first responders battling the flames, wounding three rescuers.

Videos: Telegram channels

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Russia continues its brutal attacks on civilian infrastructure, local residents, and rescue workers across Ukraine.

▪️ Russians killed four people in Dnipropetrovsk region. 14 more people were injured, including an 11-year-old girl.

Critical infrastructure, residential buildings, shops and cars were damaged.

▪️ In Poltava and Zaporizhzhia, Russians struck shopping malls.

▪️ A 14-year-old girl and a 61-year-old man were injured by Russian FPV drone strikes on Zaporizhzhia region.

▪️ Four people, including three emergency workers, were injured in Kharkiv.

Russia attacked a shopping mall and a civilian enterprise with drones.

While emergency crews were dealing with the aftermath, Russia launched follow-up strikes on the sites where rescuers were working.

▪️ In Vinnytsia, six people were injured by a Russian strike on a residential building.

A private care home for older people was damaged, and 15 residents were evacuated.

Russians also hit energy infrastructure.

▪️ In Zhytomyr region, a Russian attack damaged an outpatient clinic, a residential building and a warehouse.

[UNITED24 Media @United24media]

While Russian drones strike Ukraine, the daughter of a Russian drone executive lives her best life in Toronto.

🧵 1/11 ⬇️

[Петро Порошенко @poroshenko]

Нарешті цей день настав! 1664 дні маленька Марина чекала на тата, а її мама Настя боролася за повернення чоловіка з російського полону. Дуже особливий момент і для нашої родини, бо всі ці роки боротьби ми були поруч.

Дуже хочеться, щоб кожен, хто чекає на повернення своїх — дочекався таких самих обіймів. Треба вірити й продовжувати боротися за ��овернення кожного. Думками й серцем з усіма, хто чекає. Ренате, з поверненням додому!

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

I am a perfectly ordinary person. I am simply a human being. Perhaps not as great a humanist as Putin—but, in any case, I try to do everything in my power. — Zelenskyy.