Over 32,000 Hasidim arrive in Ukraine's Uman to celebrate Rosh Hashanah

Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs reported the information.

"As of 08:00 am on September 15, 32,332 Hasidic pilgrims arrived in the city of Uman. During the day, 10,088 pilgrims crossed the state border at checkpoints," the report says.

The ministry noted that law enforcement officers deployed checkpoints in Uman for a thorough check and registration of pilgrims. At the same time, in places of mass gathering of pilgrims, 7 posts are on duty around the clock.

Rosh Hashanah celebrations: details

In August, Ukraine's Ambassador to Israel Korniychuk said that Ukraine was considering suspending visa-free travel with Israel for two reasons. The first is the difficulty of guaranteeing the safety of pilgrims going to Uman. "We say that we cannot protect them from missiles and drones. We, regrettably, do not have enough (air defense means - ed.) to ensure the security of our cities. The embassy insists that if you (Israel - ed.) for some reason do not want to allocate air defense equipment, sell it to protect Ukrainian civilians, perhaps you would want to protect your own," the diplomat said.

He also noted that Russia could launch missiles at Uman to blame Ukraine.

On September 10, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Hasidim to refrain from coming to Uman to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. However, they have been arriving in the Cherkasy region for several days.

In addition, police officers from Israel arrived in Uman. Together with their Ukrainian counterparts, they will ensure law enforcement during the Rosh Hashanah celebration.