Russia is Gog? And Ukraine is…?

It is brought in the sefer “Tzfiras Chen” by the mekubal R’ Noach Gad Weintraub (1888-1954) that Russia is Gog u-Magog. In another sefer, “Hadras Chen”, he says that the Ukraine derives its name from “Ekron”, one of the five cities of the Plishtim (Philistines), and that the people themselves descend from Plishtim who migrated there.  Regarding “Ekron”, the verse states that in the days of Moshiach “Ekron will be uprooted.” (Tzafanya 2:4)*

Additionally, there is the following from the sefer of the Admo”r of Klausenberg, ztz”l, in which he states:

“Once, when my grandfather, the Tzanzer Rebbe, zy”a, spoke about the Russians he said about them that before the coming of Moshiach they will pay for the sins of the fathers and the sins of their forefathers and they will be attacked and ripped to pieces, meaning that they will unite with bnei Yishmael and they [Yishmael] will pay for the sin of their father…”

And from the sefer “Ateret Tzion” the well-known scholar R’ Ben Tzion Mutzafi writes in the name of his father, the mekubal R’ Salman Mutzafi:

“My father my teacher said that it seems from all the holy seforim that the kingdom of Gog is the state of Russia of our days, as it is situated in the north of the world, and rules over different nationalities and ethnicities and ancient tribes including the Amalekites, the Canaanites, Gypsies and others from the 70 nations, and they are the ones who will come with their extensive military forces to Israel…and in the land of Israel they will fall and be destroyed…” 

We can say that these sources agree with what the Rebbe says here, describing the war of Gog u-Magog as “a case like Afghanistan”, seemingly a reference to the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet Russia forces of the same year.

* Note that the name “Ekron” contains the root letters of “Ukraine” as well as “Corona” (and also the recent virus variant — “Omicron”).