‘No time to reach shelter’: Voices from Kyiv after deadly attack by Russia

Ukrainian aid workers described a terrifying night in Kyiv last week after a Russian missile and drone attack killed at least 17 people and injured 44 across the capital and surrounding region.

Homes, warehouses and other civilian infrastructure were damaged, while emergency workers continued to respond at affected sites.

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Julia Goldenberg, director of 2U, a Kyiv-based partner of humanitarian nonprofit organization World Jewish Relief, said that “food warehouses, supermarkets, malls, civilian infrastructure and logistics were under attack. Russians are doing their best to deprive peaceful civilians of food, household essentials, income, homes and, of course, lives. Residential buildings were again among their ‘military’ targets.”

She added that “in Kyiv, we survive nights like this every three or four days. After each attack, our office receives call after call from people whose apartments and homes have been damaged. People desperately need practical and psychological support. The stress is accumulating.” Goldenberg said Mariya, an 85-year-old Jewish woman whose apartment was damaged during an attack in July, had called that morning to cancel a planned visit. “After this terrible night, she simply could not face hosting anyone today,” Goldenberg said. “Nevertheless, Kyiv is alive. Ukraine is alive. People are working, and the sun is shining.”

World Jewish Relief’s partner, 2U, says about 235 people within the wider Jewish community in Kyiv need repairs due to shelling damage.

Oleksiy Tolkachov, director of Dreamland, another World Jewish Relief partner, described how little warning residents had, stating that “ballistic missiles reach the city extremely quickly, sometimes almost simultaneously with the air-raid alert, so there was simply no time to reach a proper shelter.” “People hid wherever they could: in corridors, bathrooms, and other relatively protected parts of their homes,” he said. “The explosions were extremely loud, and the night was terrifying. Unfortunately, our air-defense resources are severely depleted. In practical terms, Kyiv is dangerously exposed to further Russian ballistic-missile attacks.” World Jewish Relief is continuing its established humanitarian response across Ukraine, providing support to people within and beyond the Jewish community through local partners. Since the beginning of the full-scale war in February 2022, the nonprofit and its partners have repaired more than 1,200 war-damaged homes and have assisted more than 400,000 Ukrainians with humanitarian aid, livelihood support, psychological assistance and home care. David Weisberg, executive director of World Jewish Relief USA, reported that “Ukraine is not rebuilding after the war. Ukrainians are being forced to rebuild during the war, even as homes are being damaged faster than humanitarian organizations can repair them.”

He said: “Our partners are there every day, helping families regain some sense of safety and stability, even while they themselves live under the same threat. Ukraine may no longer command the headlines it once did, but the humanitarian need has not diminished. In many ways, it is becoming more urgent. We cannot look away.”

For more information on helping to repair homes in Ukraine, visit: worldjewishrelief.funraise.org/.

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