Ukraine Crisis

Ukraine’s Jews and Jewish communities still need our help. 

As the devastating situation rages on, Ukraine’s Jews are in distress. In the face of this ongoing conflict, JDC has continued uninterrupted its lifesaving care for tens of thousands of Ukraine’s most vulnerable Jews.

This critical work means leveraging JDC’s century-plus experience of crisis response, providing aid to those Jews in remaining in Ukraine, those looking to evacuate, and the thousands of refugees that now span across Europe and beyond. Looking ahead, JDC will continue to be there — ensuring that Ukraine’s Jews are supported in their time of great need.

Ukraine Crisis: Our Impact in Numbers

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*As of May 2024

Our Efforts Include:

  • Providing the most vulnerable Jews with vital necessities like food and medicine, as well as deploying a winter survival initiative, delivering portable heaters, cooking stoves, and subsidies for high utility bills. This response encompasses thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and those who have returned after fleeing the country.
  • Addressing the needs of Ukraine’s “new poor,” resulting from skyrocketing inflation and diminished employment opportunity.
  • Supporting the Jewish community and providing connection through continued programming and volunteer work.
  • Operating emergency hotlines in collaboration with local Jewish communities in Ukraine, Poland, Israel, and Estonia.
  • Supporting vital needs as European Jewish communities help support those who fled Ukraine, including food, medicine, and housing support, alongside workforce opportunities and refugee integration into local Jewish institutions and programs.
  • Staffing key border crossings on an as-needed basis, along with European community partners and volunteers to embrace, inform, and assist refugees while also working to coordinate shelter and home hospitality.
  • Providing online and offline educational and emotional support for children; delivering access to online employment opportunitiesstrong> that concentrate on remote or freelance work and skill training utilizing JDC’s JOINTECH initiative; and sustaining trauma relief and support through a network of 8 Trauma Support Centers and emotional support activities.
  • Delivering nonsectarian humanitarian aid to people impacted by the crisis, including providing Israeli water filter systems in response to flooding in Kherson, establishing the first public prosthetics workshop in Lviv for local production of prosthetics to hundreds of wounded Ukrainians, and supporting community-based rehabilitation services.
  • Executing and coordinating evacuations upon request across Ukraine, arranging transport and safe accommodations inside Ukraine and beyond, including organizing special medical transport for elderly Jews who are unable to make the journey using standard vehicles.

Ukraine’s vibrant Jewish community is one of the largest in the world, home to an estimated 200,000 Jews prior to the current crisis. Since the collapse of communism, JDC has worked across the former Soviet Union (FSU) to save Jewish lives and build Jewish life. In Ukraine alone, JDC has been serving over 53,000 vulnerable Jews — including the elderly, poor, families, the internally displaced and new poor — through our network of care services, Jewish community programs, and local Jewish volunteers.

Right now, you can help us continue to be a lifeline for Ukraine’s most vulnerable Jews caught in the devastating throes of conflict.

Ukrainian Crisis Response