For more than a year now, pro-Russian separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine, turning cities into combat zones. Jews in Donetsk, Lugansk and the surrounding areas have either fled the region or remain trapped, cut off from the rest of the country. For the first time since World War II, Jews in Europe are displaced.

For the past 16 years, JUF has had a hand in strengthening the Jewish communities of Ukraine through its Kyiv Kehillah Project, and that hand is now working harder than ever. When the initial crisis in Kyiv broke out in November 2013, our community and our Federation responded immediately by providing emergency assistance through our overseas partners, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), supporting basic human services as well as meeting additional security needs at Jewish sites and schools.

Harsh winter conditions and the suspension of benefit payments in some parts of eastern Ukraine are making the situation even more difficult. Food prices are increasing with inflation, which – coupled with bank closures, depleted savings and overall lack of available hard currency – means that access to food is quite difficult. Physical access to food is complicated as well, as markets within or near the fighting zone face ongoing security threats. With the ongoing risk of household food insecurity, it’s likely that individual coping strategies will not be sustainable for the long term. This is especially true for the elderly, the institutionalized, and other vulnerable individuals.

JUF, in partnership with the JDC, continues to provide life-saving services, including food, medicines, home health care and winter relief to Jews living in the regions under fire, for internally displaced Jews living in other parts of Ukraine, and Jews who have gone east and moved to Russia.

There are over 2,000 displaced Jews throughout Ukraine and approximately 5,000 Jews living in the conflict zone. It is our responsibility to help them, and we are. We serve more than 70,000 impoverished Jews in Ukraine. For those who have fled or who remain in the conflict zone, the situation has become much direr. Over 6,900 people in the conflict zone or who have fled their homes are receiving life-sustaining services such as emergency relief assistance (food and medical support), one-time emergency expense support for surgeries, emergency home repairs, or one-time purchases of basic necessities, rental subsidies and assistance in leaving the conflict zone.

The estimated 350,000 Jews living in Ukraine have been profoundly affected by the political and economic instability that have impacted the county since early 2014. Ukraine’s economy is deteriorating. Official inflation has reached almost 25 percent and the local currency, the hryvia, has been devalued by more than 50 percent.

While we know that the majority of Jews will stay in Ukraine, in 2014 close to 6,000 Ukrainian Jews made aliyah to Israel, a 196 percent increase as compared to 2013. Despite the crisis, JAFI offices in Donetsk and Mariupol remain open and continue to provide services. These Jewish communal staff members working both for JDC and for JAFI are the heroes of this story. They are providing uninterrupted services, meeting the everyday needs of our community’s most vulnerable and those in crisis.

Sophia is one of those JDC Hesed workers. Since the violence erupted, she, like many other caretakers and volunteers working for JDC’s Hesed social welfare center network, have risked their lives treating thousands of homebound and frail elderly. In eastern Ukraine today, JDC and the staff of the Hesed network is caring for thousands of Jews who remain. Some have ridden bicycles through active war zones. Others traversed their way past gunmen manning barricades and checkpoints. Although their work saves the lives of countless people, the heroism of these men and women goes largely unsung.

Interest in Jewish Agency programs that prepare individuals and families for aliyah has increased in significant numbers: 28,000 people attended aliyah information events and 180 ulpan classes served more than 1600 students. New ulpan classes continue to open to meet growing needs. In addition, the Jewish Agency continues to shelter those refugees who are in the process of making aliyah. In 2014, 400 Jews lived in the Jewish Agency’s refugee center while they awaited their aliyah to Israel.

While we pray for better days ahead, we prepare for an ongoing crisis. We thank our overseas partners, JDC and JAFI, for the work they do every day. It is because we and our collective federated system were there in Ukraine before the crisis began that we were in a position to respond effectively and efficiently from the onset. Moving forward there will be additional needs, and while no one could have predicted that this crisis would last as long as it has, our commitment to our brothers and sisters living in Ukraine remains strong.