The Jewish Federations of North America conducted an analysis of the emergency needs of the dozens of relief organizations they are supporting in Ukraine and is projecting a total of $99 million for emergency-aid funding through the end of 2022.
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To date, some $62 million has been raised by JFNA and its partners for this next phase of the campaign, leaving a shortfall of $37 million to provide assistance to those being impacted by the war.
To help bridge the gap, the Wilf Family Foundations has pledged $5 million towards this next stage of funding for Ukraine aid. The donation comes during the last week of Mark Wilf's tenure as chair of the Board of Trustees of Jewish Federations of North America.
"It has been a true honor to serve in this role and witness the impact of Jewish philanthropy to improve the lives of vulnerable populations from all backgrounds – from people in our own neighborhoods to individuals in need around the world," he said. "I feel blessed to be able to offer this pledge on behalf of my family during my last days as board chair, understanding the enormity of the needs in Ukraine, along with the tremendous impact of philanthropy to transform lives."
In addition to JFNA's core partners – the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish Agency for Israel and World ORT – they are also supporting dozens of other organizations providing critical rescue and relief to Ukrainian refugees of all backgrounds.
The aid being distributed through Jewish Federations of North America includes humanitarian relief in Ukraine; funding for rescue and aliyah operations; aid for refugees in neighboring countries; resettlement and integration of refugees; and strengthening of the regional Jewish community.
Meanwhile, the US announced it will send an additional $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine, as America and its allies provide longer-range weapons they say can make a difference in a fight where Ukrainian forces are outnumbered and outgunned by their Russian invaders.
President Joe Biden and his top national security leaders said Wednesday the US is moving as fast as possible to get critical weapons to the fight, even as Ukrainian officials protest that they need more, faster, in order to survive.
The latest package, the US said, includes anti-ship missile launchers, howitzers and more rounds for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems that US forces are training Ukrainian troops on now. All are key weapons systems that Ukrainian leaders have urgently requested as they battle to stall Russia's slow but steady march to conquer the eastern Donbas region.
"Gen. Milley and I have been in a number of fights. And when you're in a fight, you can never get enough," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a press conference in Brussels, referring to Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"I certainly understand where the Ukrainians are coming from, and we're gonna fight hard to give them everything they need."
The HIMARS and anti-ship systems are the kinds of longer-range capabilities that over time can make a difference in the fight, Milley said. He said Ukraine will have trained HIMARS crews in the fight in a few weeks.
"If they use the weapon properly and it's employed properly, they ought to be able to take out a significant amount of targets and that will make a difference," he said. But he also noted that the numbers clearly favor the Russians.
"In terms of artillery, they do outnumber, they out-gun and out-range" the Ukrainian forces.
The aid is the largest single tranche of weapons and equipment since the war began. Biden, who spoke by phone with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for about 40 minutes Wednesday, also said the US will send $225 million more in humanitarian assistance to provide safe drinking water, medical supplies, food, health care, shelter and money for families to buy essential items.
The US remains committed, Biden said in a statement, "to supporting the Ukrainian people whose lives have been ripped apart by this war."
The aid comes as Austin convened a meeting in Brussels of more than 45 nations to discuss support for Ukraine. At the start of the meeting, he warned that the West must step up weapons deliveries to Ukraine and prove its commitment to helping the country's military fight along a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line in a grinding war of attrition with Russia.
He told the participating nations, "We can't afford to let up and we can't lose steam. The stakes are too high."
Overall, since the war began in late February, the US has committed about $5.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, including this latest package. Officials said that about one-third of the latest $1 billion will be from presidential drawdown authority, which means the Pentagon will take weapons and equipment from its own stock and ship them to Ukraine. The remaining two-thirds would be equipment and weapons purchased from industry by the US and then transferred to Ukraine.
Austin's meeting, also attended by Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, came on the opening day of a two-day gathering of NATO defense ministers at the alliance headquarters.
Increased arms supplies can't come too soon for the Ukrainian forces battling to keep Russia from taking control of their country's industrial east after more than 3½ months of war. In his nightly address to the nation, President Zelenskyy pleaded Tuesday for more and faster deliveries of Western arms, specifically asking for anti-missile defense systems.
"Allies are committed to continue providing the military equipment that Ukraine needs to prevail, including heavy weapons and long-range systems," said Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary-general.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Tuesday that without help from the West, "we will not be able to win this war." She said Ukraine uses 5,000 to 6,000 artillery rounds a day, while Russia uses 10 times that many.
The defense ministers also planned to discuss moves to beef up forces along NATO's own eastern flank and elsewhere, which have gathered strength since Russia invaded Ukraine.
"This will mean more presence, more capabilities and higher readiness, with more NATO forward deployed combat formations to strengthen our battlegroups in the East, more air, sea and cyber defenses, pre-positioned equipment and weapon stockpiles," Stoltenberg said.
On a separate but related subject, he wouldn't commit to a timeframe for Sweden and Finland joining NATO. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is blocking the membership bids, accusing the Nordic nations of supporting Kurdish militants deemed by Turkey to be terrorists.
"My aim is to solve this issue as soon as possible, but since we are several nations involved in this process, there is no way to tell you exactly when we will solve it," Stoltenberg said.
Because of Turkey's concerns, "this will take some more time than we originally expected," he said.
Erdogan signaled Wednesday he won't back down.
"We will most definitely not change our stance until Sweden and Finland take clear, concrete and determined steps in the fight against terrorism," Erdogan said in an address to his ruling party's legislators.
All 30 NATO members must agree to admit new members.
In Ukraine, leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania arrived in Kyiv on Thursday in a show of collective European support for the Ukrainian people, marking the highest-profile visit to Ukraine's capital since the Russian invasion.
The French president's office said that President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Premier Mario Draghi, representing the three largest economies in Europe, had traveled to Kyiv together on a special overnight train provided by the Ukrainian authorities.
President Klaus Iohannis of Romania – which borders Ukraine and has been a destination for many Ukrainian refugees – arrived on a separate train, tweeting on arrival: "This illegal Russian aggression must stop!"
After getting off the train in Kyiv, Macron said he and the other leaders would visit sites where attacks occurred.
"It's a message of European unity for the Ukrainian people, support now and in the future, because the weeks to come will be very difficult," Macron said.
The visit comes as the Russian forces press their offensive in the eastern Donbas region, slowly but steadily gaining ground on the badly outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian forces, who are pleading desperately for more arms from Western allies.
Several air raid sirens rang out while the European leaders were in their hotel preparing for the rest of their visit, and Kyiv authorities urged people to seek shelter. Such alerts are a frequent occurrence.
As he left the hotel, Macron, putting his hand on his heart, said in English: "I want to show my admiration for the Ukrainian people."
German news agency dpa quoted Scholz as saying that the leaders are seeking to show solidarity but also their commitment to keeping up their financial and humanitarian help for Ukraine, and their supply of weapons.
Scholz added that this support would continue "for as long as is necessary for Ukraine's fight for independence." He said that the sanctions against Russia were also significant and could lead to Moscow withdrawing its troops, according to dpa.
The European leaders are to meet with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The visit carries heavy symbolic weight given that the three Western European powers have often faced criticism for not providing Ukraine with the scale of weaponry that Zelenskyy has been begging them for, and for their willingness to keep speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Many leaders and regular people in the Baltic and Central European nations, which were controlled by Moscow during the Cold War, believe that Putin only understands force, and have viewed the efforts by Macron and others to keep speaking to Putin following his invasion as unacceptable.
Hopes were high among Ukrainians that the visit could mark a turning point by opening the way to significant new arms supplies.
The visit comes as EU leaders prepare to make a decision June 23-24 on Ukraine's request to become a candidate for EU membership, and ahead of an important NATO summit June 29-30 in Madrid.
Also Thursday, NATO defense ministers are meeting in Brussels to weigh more military aid for Ukraine. On Wednesday, the US and Germany announced more aid, as America and its allies provide longer-range weapons they say can make a difference in a fight where Ukrainian forces are outnumbered and outgunned by their Russian invaders.
On Tuesday, during a trip to Ukraine's neighbors Romania and Moldova, Macron said a "message of support" must be sent to Ukraine before EU heads of state and government "have to make important decisions" at their Brussels meeting.
"We are in a moment where we need to send clear political signals – we, Europeans, we the European Union – toward Ukraine and the Ukrainian people," he said.
Macron is deeply involved in diplomatic efforts to push for a cease-fire in Ukraine that would allow future peace negotiations. He has frequent discussions with Zelenskyy and has spoken on the phone several times with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Putin launched the invasion in late February.
Scholz had long resisted traveling to Kyiv, saying he didn't want to "join the queue of people who do a quick in-out for a photo opportunity." Instead, Scholz said a trip should focus on doing "concrete things."
Germany on Wednesday announced that it will provide Ukraine with three multiple launch rocket systems of the kind that Kyiv has said it urgently needs to defend itself against Russia's invasion.
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Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Germany will transfer three M270 medium-range artillery rocket systems along with ammunition to Ukraine.
Lambrecht, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, said that training of Ukrainian soldiers in Germany on advanced howitzers whose delivery Berlin had already announced will soon be completed.
She said the multiple launch rocket systems can be delivered in late July or early August following training on that equipment.
Lambrecht has said that Germany expects the systems to have "a swift and significant battlefield impact."
In related news, two US citizens who traveled to Ukraine as volunteer fighters against Russian forces have been missing for a week and are feared captured, family members said on Wednesday.
Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Andy Huynh, 27, of Hartselle, Alabama, were last in contact with their families on June 8 and did not return from a mission around the Kharkiv region.
Reports that the two had been taken prisoners of war by Russia are unconfirmed, the families and a US State Department spokesperson said.
"What we know officially at this point from the State Department is that Andy and Alex are missing," Joy Black, Andy's fiancée, said by phone. "We do not have confirmation for anything beyond that. Obviously the longer the search goes the more we start to consider other scenarios."
Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the United States had not contacted Russia regarding the reports of the US fighters.
"I don't have that information, I check every day, and I'll check today. We make all information about the fate of detained mercenaries or those sentenced to trial public," the RIA news agency reported Zakharova as saying.
Russia's Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If the pair have been captured, they would be the first confirmed US citizens to have been taken as prisoners of war in the conflict.
JNS.org contributed to this report.
