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At a seaside hotel in Netanya, Ukrainians repeat the unfamiliar sounds of Hebrew letters as they adjust to life in Israel.
There are about 120 Ukrainians at the Ramada Hotel, which stands metres from the shore, after fleeing the Russian invasion of their country.
“It doesn’t matter that we’re here, in safety. We have a lot of relatives, friends in Ukraine with their own families, some pets, that stayed in danger,” said Anna Montarento, 39, who escaped from the north-east city of Kharkiv.
About 20,000 Ukrainians have reached Israel since the war broke out on February 24, according to government figures. The UN has recorded more than 4.2 million refugees fleeing to other countries.
Ukrainians are currently allowed to travel to Israel only with prior approval, with most needing to prove personal ties to the country. Jews the world over are welcome to emigrate.
Ms Montarento has relatives in Israel and embarked on a multi-day journey when the conflict erupted, witnessing the horrifying results of Russian bombardments.
Her 17-year-old son did not want to leave.
“He wanted to stay and fight. I just grabbed him and forced him to travel, and now he has found friends here and he’s fine. He’s thinking about the future,” said Ms Montarento, who worked as a manager for a construction company.
Volunteers at the hotel from Alynu, an organisation supporting Jewish immigration, have organised children’s activities and a music night.
One of the Ukrainians said staff offer them more food at breakfast time than other guests.
Leonid Rubanovski, the managing director of a coffee factory in the capital Kyiv, described a fellow Ukrainian being sent by taxi, free of charge, to receive medical treatment.
“Every day something like that happens,” the 60-year-old said. “We feel like little children in a kindergarten that are being helped.”
The Ukrainians have been given a one-month stay at the hotel, funded by the government, during which they must organise their documents and find somewhere else to live.
Nicolai Manin, 30, who had a job in quality assurance in Kyiv, said they have been assigned a local co-ordinator to help make arrangements.
“I’m thinking of staying here. Because it’s a good country to live in, and we understand that the future, for the next several years, it could be difficult even to live in our country,” he said.
While Mr Manin said the Ukrainians are trying to support one another, they will face linguistic and financial hurdles.
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Nato foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the latest in the continuing Russia-Ukraine war. AFP -
People take part in a protest against the transport of cargo to Russia and Belarus near the Polish-Belarusian border crossing in Koroszczyn, eastern Poland. EPA -
A Ukrainian naval vessel, thought to be the ‘Donbas’ and a nearby building burn in the besieged city of Mariupol. AP -
Bucha resident Tetiana Ustymenko weeps over the grave of her son, buried in the garden of her house, in Bucha, north-west of Kyiv. AFP -
People charge their mobile phones in a public building in Bucha. AFP -
People from Mariupol leave a train to be taken to temporary residences in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. AP -
Vladyslava Liubarets, a Bucha resident, cries as she hugs her sister whom she had not seen since the beginning of the Russian invasion, in Bucha, the town which was retaken by the Ukrainian army. EPA -
Local citizen Oleksandr, 55, looks at the grave of his neighbour in the backyard of his private house in Hostomel in Kyiv. EPA -
Debris of a rocket missile on the field near Kyiv. EPA -
The mother of Ukrainian soldier Lubomyr Hudzeliak, who was killed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, mourns during his funeral in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP -
A woman takes care of a baby at a shelter in the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk in Donbas region. AFP -
Residents gather outside a shelter in the city of Severodonetsk. AFP -
Residents in eastern Ukraine, including the city of Severodonetsk in Donbas region, have been asked by their government to leave 'now' or 'risk death'. AFP -
A young girl with her dog arrives at a centre for the displaced in Zaporizhzhia, north-west of Mariupol. AFP -
A damaged ambulance in Hostomel, on the outskirts of Kyiv. Reuters -
A bomb crater left behind by Russia's attack on the Ukrainian village of Demydiv, on the outskirts of Kyiv. Reuters -
Russian attacks have reduced Hotel Ukraine in Chernihiv to debris. Reuters -
Oleksii Shcherbo, 98, near his burnt house in the village of Sloboda, on the outskirts of Chernihiv. Reuters -
Residents walk past destroyed Russian military machinery on the street, in Bucha, the town which was retaken by the Ukrainian army, north-west of Kyiv. EPA -
Damaged National flags flutter in the wind on a cemetry of Chernihiv city which was blocked by Russian troops for a long time. EPA -
Demonstrators lie down on the ground in tribute to the people killed in Russia's war against Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany. AP -
A Ukrainian firefighter works at the site of a burning fuel storage facility ignited by an air strike, in Dnipropetrovsk. Reuters -
A woman before and after she was removed by rescuers from debris after a military strike on the town of Rubizhne, Luhansk. Reuters -
People wait for help to evacuate Derhachi. Reuters -
Pope Francis, in Vatican, holds a Ukrainian flag given to him by a delegation from the town of Bucha, where dozens of bodies had been found. EPA -
State emergency servicemen clear shells near Chernigiv, northern Ukraine. AFP -
US war veteran Steven Straub shows his tattoo of the Ukrainian flag while on patrol near Buda-Babynetska, north of Kyiv, days after Russian forces retreated from the area. AFP -
Candles are arranged in the shape of Ukraine by the monument to the poet Taras Shevchenko in the western city Lviv. AFP -
A teddy bear hangs from a tree branch outside an apartment building in Borodyanka, Kyiv oblast. AP -
A woman carries her cat as she walks past buildings that were destroyed by Russian shelling, in Borodyanka. Reuters -
Dmitriy Evtushkov, 25, points to his picture in a primary school album retrieved from the rubble of a block of flats. AP -
Technicians try to fix the internet in Bucha. AP -
A smashed mobile phone lies next to a Russian army ration book in Bucha. AP -
A woman and children after their arrival at a centre for displaced persons in Zaporizhzhia, about 200 kilometres north-west of Mariupol. AFP -
A man leaves a damaged pharmacy after a bombing that killed several civilians, in Mykolaiv. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers sing a patriotic song with buildings in the background that were destroyed during fighting in Borodyanka. AP -
Borodyanka residents carry humanitarian aid packages. Reuters -
Elderly Ukrainians shelter in a basement in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine. EPA -
Destroyed apartment buildings in Borodyanka. Reuters -
Relatives and friends are overwhelmed with emotions as they stand next to the coffin of Anatoly German during his funeral. AP
Israel is the seventh most expensive country in the world in which to live, according to the Numbeo cost of living index, compared with Ukraine at number 121.
A volunteer said they are trying to help the guests find the most affordable accommodation, which will certainly not be in Netanya or urban hubs such as Tel Aviv.
Recalling his time in Kyiv, Mr Manin said it was like the “regular life of people who have freedom”.
“I went to the gym and spent time with my friends, for example, having a coffee on the bank of the Dnieper River,” which runs through the capital, he said.
Such cafe culture has been on the increase in Kyiv over the past decade, according to Mr Rubanovski.
“The quality of the coffee is wonderful,” he said.
“We love Ukraine,” Mr Rubanovski said. “We also love Israel, because it’s the country that let us in.”
While Israel has granted a limited number of Ukrainians entry since the outbreak of war, the country has not taken a firm stance on the conflict.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has styled himself as a potential mediator, travelling to Moscow last month for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Israel’s foreign minister, Yair Lapid, has taken a different approach. On Tuesday, he accused Russian forces of committing “war crimes against a defenceless civilian population” in Ukraine.
While the guests at the Ramada Hotel are trying to establish a new life, those they left behind in Ukraine are never far from their minds.
“Every morning and evening we are calling our friends, just to know that they are alive,” Ms Montarento said.
“It’s terrifying.”
