By COLlive staff

Four years have passed since that morning when the quiet in Ukraine was shattered. The first sirens pierced the air, tanks began advancing, and highways filled with frightened civilians searching for escape routes.

Amid the chaos, the Rebbe’s Shluchim in cities across Ukraine, alongside JRNU, mobilized immediately, even before the international community grasped the scale of the unfolding crisis.

On the first day of the war, as entire cities trembled under bombardment, Chabad Houses were transformed into emergency command centers. Shluchim established rapid communication channels with countless Jewish families to ensure that no one was left behind.

Rescue operations began almost at once. Elderly residents unable to descend staircases, families with small children, and patients requiring urgent evacuation were extracted under relentless sirens and shelling.

Within hours, it was clear that the situation would intensify. JRNU established a large-scale logistical network: trucks loaded with food, medicine, water, blankets, baby supplies, and emergency equipment were dispatched across the country. Emergency vehicles transported Jews out of danger zones one by one. Shluchim traveled through active fire lines to deliver aid to those stranded in isolated areas. In locations inaccessible by vehicle, they continued on foot.

One of the most dramatic scenes unfolded at the border crossings. Thousands of refugees arrived in panic, some after days of flight. Shluchim erected improvised relief stations offering hot meals, blankets, mobile phones to contact relatives, assistance with documentation, and accompaniment for children separated from parents. Many refugees continue to recount that the first faces they encountered after days of darkness were those of a Chabad Shliach.

Simultaneously, a broad absorption effort was launched in Israel. Families arriving exhausted were provided with temporary housing, basic supplies, school enrollment, medical care, and emotional support. Shluchim maintained contact even after families settled, ensuring that no one fell through the cracks.

A distinct chapter is reserved for the orphanages in Zhytomyr and Odessa, which were evacuated immediately from their original locations. The operation required extraordinary dedication and personal risk. Ultimately, the children reached safe haven unharmed.

Four years later, the work of the Shluchim in Ukraine continues uninterrupted. Some communities remain dispersed. Some families are still coping with trauma. Some have returned to Ukraine, while others have rebuilt elsewhere. The assistance persists, day after day, night after night.

The documentation from those first days – the sirens, the rescues, the tears and embraces – remains etched in collective memory. Yet above all endures a sense of mission. Even in the darkest hours of war, a measure of light dispels much darkness.

Here’s a selection of photos from the first days of the war.