UK community urged to support Ukraine’s Jews after deadliest month of war

He stated that over 10 million Ukrainians were currently estimated to need humanitarian assistance. In addition, since the start of the war, World Jewish Relief has identified around 1,000 Jewish homes requiring urgent repairs.

“We have funds, at the moment, to repair about 20,” Anticoni added.

Residential buildings in Ukraine, damaged by Russian strikes (Photo: World Jewish Relief)[Missing Credit]

Liubov Rainchuk, a World Jewish Relief team member and witness to the attacks, described the sense of anxiety the drone attacks created. “Drone attacks happen in Ukraine almost every day. You know that you can live by day, but you don’t know what to expect by night. You never know where the missile will be intercepted, if it’s going to be intercepted.”

“Only during one night of the May 24 attack, we received reports of more than 50 Jewish homes [being damaged],” said Julia Goldenberg, World Jewish Relief’s local partner in Kyiv and director of 2U, an American educational technology company. “When we…help, it’s not just the fixing of people’s homes. It’s the fixing of their lives.”

Goldenberg described the ordeal of Larysa, an 81-year-old Jewish woman living alone, whose Kyiv flat was damaged in the recent strikes: “[Larysa] was positively sure that she would not survive the coming winter, as she would have no possibility to install a new window.

"Older people have been the least likely to relocate within Ukraine and certainly to leave the country,” said Beth Saffer, head of older people programmes at World Jewish Relief. “They don't want to leave their homes, or they don't have the physical energy or the financial means, and they don't want to adapt to a new place.”

World Jewish Relief and its partners have provided over 400,000 Ukrainians with humanitarian assistance since the war started.

Yulia and her two daughters in eastern Ukraine, supported by World Jewish Relief (Photo: World Jewish Relief)[Missing Credit]

The organisation is now turning to the UK Jewish community to support the emergency Ukraine response.

Goldenberg reflected on an event commemorating Ukraine’s Righteous Among the Nations – those who risked their lives rescuing Jews during the Holocaust.

The ceremony, held in May, following an “awful” attack, brought together ambassadors and faith representatives, including the Ukrainian Chief Rabbi. 

“In the morning, we had no idea how to do it because the Righteous [among the Nations] are pretty old,” she explained. “A Righteous said: ‘We have to come and we have to show we are all together.’ So, we came [together] – different people, different ethnicities, Jews, non-Jews…This ceremony has never been so emotional.”

Since its founding in 1933 to rescue Jews from Nazi persecution, World Jewish Relief has supported Jewish communities in crisis across the globe.

World Jewish Relief is holding No Time to Wait, an urgent 36-hour match-funding campaign on June 28 and 29 to raise £500,000 to support communities in Ukraine and Israel who are experiencing the psychological impact of war. To donate, go to: charityextra.com/worldjewishrelief or click here