Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky’s top aide today appealed to Jews throughout the world to back his country’s fight against the Russian invasion.

In an exclusive interview with the JC in the heavily-guarded Presidential Office in Kyiv, Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak, whose father is Jewish, asked Britain’s and the world’s Jews to lend their unqualified support to Ukraine’s war effort.

He also appealed to Israel to do more to help. “Today we need your help. Today we hope that the Israeli government and society will give real and quick support.

“I am sure Jewish society in the UK and worldwide can do more,” said Mr Yermak, a long-time close friend of Ukraine’s Jewish President, in accented but clear English. “Jews uniquely understand what oppression is and what it is to have to struggle for their survival, like we are having to do now.”

Wearing a T-shirt and tracksuit top, military-style, he went on: “I've made a point of speaking by internet to Jews in various countries, and a lot deeply understand.  Many visited our country before the war, and got to know our people.

“They know how comfortable Jewish society in Ukraine feels. For example, my father is Jewish, and his Jewish parents and grandparents all grew up and thrived in Ukraine.”

Mr Yermak pointed out that many Jews are serving in Ukraine’s armed forces and territorial army, and some have died.  

“A lot of people with Jewish nationality are now in the front line.  Some of them have been killed ‑‑ shot or bombed by the Russians.  These people are fighting for their country. 

"Those who fight, and their relatives, can tell fellow Jews to press their governments to deliver new weapons, and to impose new sanctions against Russia.  In turn Jewish leaders and Jewish people are in a strong position to explain to the world what's really happening in Russia. They need also to tell Jews worldwide the reality.

"Because the truth is a very strong weapon.  And Jews know what oppression means, and why it must be fought. They have a history of such things.

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Andrey Yermak (Paul Cainer)

“I want to thank them for having this opportunity to speak, and I know a lot of them have done a lot to explain the real situation.

 “The Ukrainians have shown to the world already in eight months that we are fighting not just for our freedom and democracy, we are fighting for all the world.”

Turning his attention to Israel, Mr Yermak saw parallels between the enemies both countries face. 

“Russia has become the equivalent of Hezbollah,” he said. “The Israeli people must understand what we Ukrainians feel, as Israelis have also had to defend themselves.”

He rejected the argument that military support for Ukraine would make the situation for Israel more difficult through increased Russian support for regimes like Syria and terrorist groups.

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Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrey Yermak speaks during his joint press conference with the former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in August in Kyiv, Ukraine(Photo by Alexey Furman/Getty Images)

“The Russians are aligning with Israel’s enemy Iran and every day Iranian drones are striking at our people,” he said. To make these drones function lethally, Iranian drone operators were already stationed in his country's occupied territories, he said.

There was strategic benefit to Israel in providing much-needed military hardware such as anti-missile systems, "not just talk”.

When Ukraine ultimately wins this war, he said, it will have struck a huge blow against Russian expansionism, seriously damaging its prestige and its clout.  That would in turn bring increased stability in the Middle East region, as current Russian allies would be deprived of Russia’s military power and weakened.  

“Many heroes of Israel were born in Ukraine, yet their cities of birth are being destroyed by Russian rockets and Iranian drones,” he went on.

He wondered what former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir would have done to protect her birthplace if she were still alive. “She was born in Kyiv 400 metres from where we are speaking,” he noted.

"Israelis know how it feels to wake up under incoming drones and missiles. And like Israel's enemies, Russia is absolutely a terrorist country.  Friends need to come to the aid of their friends.”

Mr Yermak gave the JC some insight into the president’s steadfastness in the face of huge pressure.

“When the war started, several countries, and even most of his staff, advised him to leave Kyiv, where the invading Russians aimed to kill him. He refused.

“He and all our team continue to live here in the palace.  I have never seen him afraid or not knowing what to do.  

“And he and I have been to the front lines at some critical times. You cannot imagine the feelings of our soldiers when they saw our president in Lyschank and saw him walking with Boris Johnson in the streets of Kyiv. He is a historical model.”

Mr Zelensky’s strength, he said, stemmed from the values and examples of his Jewish family.

“He does not think of himself as a hero. We are not heroes. We are responsible people and we are doing what we have to do.  The heroes are the soldiers on the front line. The president is a normal person who has not changed.”

It had been essential for Mr Zelensky's family to leave Kyiv, but they have remained in another, undisclosed part of Ukraine, he said.

"Volodomyr is not afraid of death. Nor am I.”

Mr Yermak concluded: “He and I want so much that when we win, with an absolutely open heart we can say: it was a joint win together with our strongest partners, and we can include among them Israel. And with thanks to Jews in Britain and worldwide, that is what I believe will happen, with all my heart."