ByAnonymous, Anonymous
Ukraine feels like a country at war. There is extra security at the airport and military vehicles on the roads. People speak in hushed tones. There is doom and gloom all round — even from the optimists.
The situation is dire. More than a million people have been displaced from their homes, thousands of Jews among them.
The fighting has caused food prices to rocket. Elderly Jews are struggling to find the money in their pensions even for basic groceries. In Kherson, southern Ukraine, a monthly pension is just £95. Jews there told us that an occasional apple is now considered a luxury.
Meals consist of porridge, soup, buckwheat, beetroot salad and bread. At a Jewish community event last week, guests were seen putting handfuls of the food in bags to take home. Colleagues told me they have never seen the Jewish community like this.
Just eight months ago, conflict in the east had mobilised a population behind a hopeful, new, clean president with European backing. Expectations are now much lower. A realisation has dawned that the Ukrainian army is very weak and on the back foot. The economy is worse than rock bottom.
Uncertainty is rife, even somewhere like Kharkov, which has been relatively untouched. There I met older Jewish individuals who had been displaced to the city. Their stories were extremely sad. With the help of World Jewish Relief (WJR), these people have been well looked after, although they are unsure of their future.
A number of residents highlighted the fact that at least those in Crimea — annexed by Russia last March — have peace. In war-hit Lugansk and Donetsk, by contrast, pension payments were suspended preventing vulnerable Jews from buying their essentials.
The two rockets that on Tuesday hit the building housing Hesed, a Jewish social welfare centre in Kramatorsk, is another example of the dangers facing the communities of the east. Remarkably, there were no injuries or casualties.
The pessimists give Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, three months before people take to the streets. The optimists give him nine. Meanwhile, the shelters are full. Stress is taking its toll.
Last September, WJR helped members of the Jewish community of Mariupol to evacuate following fighting there. Jews who remained are living nervously once more after shelling returned this week.
WJR is exploring how it can expand its efforts to provide additional, crucial, humanitarian support. It is also pushing the UK government to do more. There is much to be done.
Paul Anticoni is the CEO of WJR