In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Inna Ioffe, the Director of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine (JCU), sheds light on the challenges and resilience of Ukraine’s Jewish community.
Founded in 1999, the JCU is an umbrella organisation uniting various Jewish public organisations across Ukraine. ‘Our mission is to unite the Jews of Ukraine, help the Jewish community, and support the state of Israel,’ says Ioffe.
‘Ukraine stands with Israel, and so does our organisation—not just because of the war, but because we are Jews, and many of our people came to Israel when the war in Ukraine began as Olim,’ Ioffe emphasises, marking the deep-rooted connection between the two nations.”
Among the numerous projects JCU oversees are the Kyiv Assisted Living Facilities for Seniors and Holocaust Survivors. These projects continue to operate despite the war, providing vital support to some of the community’s most vulnerable members.
However, the dangers are ever-present. “We have 40 residents in the building, which, two days ago, was involved tragedy because the roof was struck by ballistic shrapnales aimed next to this building,” Ioffe shares. The shrapnel caused significant damage, putting the lives of these Holocaust survivors at risk.
The challenges are not just logistical. The physical safety of the Jewish community in Ukraine is under constant threat. Ioffe’s office is near the old Jewish Bazaar in Kyiv, near the central railway station. “In 2022, it was a terrible situation.
During the first days of the war, our older residents were evacuated to western Ukraine, but they became very homesick,” she recalls. These residents were accustomed to having their own apartments and access to 24/7 medical care, accommodations that became difficult to maintain during the evacuation.
