Shalom, 

 כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה - ALL OF ISRAEL ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ONE ANOTHER  

 Since Russia invaded Ukraine 45 days ago, there have been a large number of civilian deaths including children and members of our community. Meanwhile the world is standing on the sidelines without military intervention .This is reminiscent of 1938, when the Nazis invaded surrounding countries.

Rabbi Moshe Asman the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine (Chabad Rabbi - Chief Rabbi of Ukraine - Головний Рабин України | Facebook see recent videos from Ukraine) and his organisation The Kiev Jewish Community http://sinagoga.kiev.ua , (with the financial support of Jews around the world) built two refugee camps in the village of Anatevka (a small village 20 minutes from Kiev) and Shpoler when Putin/Russia attacked East Ukraine and invaded Crimea in 2014. At that time there were 20,000 Jewish refugees, a large number of whom were placed in the refugee camps.   

The Kiev Jewish Community is  housing, clothing, feeding and providing medication to the thousands of refugees, especially women, children and elderly members of the community, who first arrived at the main synagogue in Kiev and we are taking them by secure convoys to the borders (approximately 14 completely full buses every day). Others arrive at the refugee camps in Anatevka. 

 From there we have arranged and are still arranging secure convoys of refugees to the borders and to safety, costing on average $5,265 per bus, which is on average $117 per passenger, without the cost of security. We have members of our Team at the borders taking over control from the convoys when they arrive, sending some refugees to Israel with the Israeli Organisation חמ”ל חילוץ אזרחי ליהודי אוקראינה וישראל.  

We liaise with local Chabad centres to assist those refugees who want to remain in Europe. Other refugees were sent to Israel by aeroplane (to date 12 flights arranged and paid for by us, other flights to Israel are organised by Ichud Hatzalah Israel), others were sent to Cyprus ( to date 2 flights), where we arranged one month’s free hotel accommodation. To date our charity has committed to an outlay of approx. $2.5 million (approx. £1.9 million). Approximately $0.5 million of this amount was raised via a Chabad Charity - Mitzvah Tank.

Our organisation is working in conjunction with Ichud Hatzalah and also in conjunction with Migdal Ohr (under the Leadership of Rabbi Grossman, one of  Israel’s largest welfare NGO’s who has devoted his life work assisting over 10,000 children from underprivileged backgrounds). Migdal Ohr has kindly agreed to take in 100 Ukrainian refugee children. https://migdalohr.org.uk