Jubilant crowds gathered at Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday to welcome Kiev’s Chief Rabbi Kyiv Jonathan Markovitch and his wife Inna to Israel. 

According to Haaretz, Rabbi Markovitch told reporters upon arrival, “The situation in Kyiv is a catastrophe. 

“Explosions near residential buildings, near the train station, which is maybe 100 meters from where our son lives. It is very dangerous.”

Rabbi Markovitch initially remained in the Ukrainian capital to help others unable to flee and welcomed dozens in his shul’s basement. 

“The local security officials asked me and helped me to leave. They saw that the situation was very bad, particularly someone with my look. They knew me and told me to leave,”  Rabbi Markovitch told The Times of Israel on Tuesday. 

A second group of around 160 Ukrainian refugees also arrived at Ben Gurion Airport at the same time. 

They fled over the border with Moldova and travelled to Romania where they embarked on a flight chartered by United Hatzalah.

Dozens of Bnei Akiva members chanted and waved Israeli flags to greet the group, which also included an elderly Holocaust survivor. 

Pictures posted online by United Hatzalah showed the survivor’s emotional reunion with her three granddaughters, who are based in Israel. 

The woman from Odessa, identified by the aid organisation only as Raisa, had difficulty walking and an ambulance it arranged took her across the Moldovan border.

“When the plane arrived in Israel, there were a lot of tears,” said vice president of operations Dov Maisel. 

“I’ve seen my fair share of disaster zones and I don’t get emotional easily, but seeing Raisa reunited with her granddaughters brought me to tears as well.”