The Baltimore Jewish community has supported its sister city in Odesa, Ukraine, for decades and been there for it in times of need. Raising awareness and funds has been at the forefront of The Associated’s work, especially since the start of Ukraine’s war with Russia that has begun to seriously escalate since the Russian ballistic missile attacks on the city on Nov. 18 that killed 10 and injured 55.

The missile attack struck a city center in Odesa after being downed by the Ukrainian Air Force, damaging a parking lot, a residential building, a university and an administrative building, and came on the heels of one of Russia’s largest missile attacks on Nov. 17 before being followed by deadly missile attacks on the Ukrainian city of Sumy overnight on Nov. 18.

Odesa has been one of the cities repeatedly targeted by Russia over the course of the nearly three-year war and has seen mass blackouts, devastating infrastructure damage and mass displacement from Russian activity.

Oksana Nelina, the Ukrainian-based coordinator of the Baltimore-Odesa partnership at The Associated, told her Baltimore counterparts that the attack on Nov. 18 was a serious escalation of violence.

“She [Nelina] said since the start of November, it’s been consistently escalating, and this has been the pinnacle regarding the most violence in 24 hours they’ve seen yet. So, they’re pretty upset,” said Harel Turkel, co-chair of The Associated’s Israel and Global Committee.

Turkel added that in the immediate aftermath of the attacks Nelia was reporting demolished buildings with ruins still needing to be sifted through, around half the city without running water or power and that she hadn’t had running water for around 16 hours.

Turkel said that he and co-chair Atara Frankel have been working to support Jews around the world in need and leverage local funds along with partnerships with organizations like the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to provide resources to communities like Odesa.

Turkel added that The Associated has helped provide food, medication, emergency phone lines, kosher food, fuel, rechargeable batteries, lamps and blankets to the Ukrainian Jewish community.

Turkel said that The Associated created an emergency relief campaign when the war began in early 2022 to support raising money, and that campaign has continued through to the present. He feels that these attacks might bring some attention back to the cause.

“So much of that [attention on Odesa] shifted after Oct. 7, with the priority seemingly going to Israel because of the increased needs. But I’m just hoping that there’s enough public outcry and awareness of what’s happening that this campaign will still raise the funds needed to help them [in Odesa],” Turkel said. “At least what I’ve seen thus far, the news from [Nov. 18], I think it’s going to be kind of a turning point to restore some of that emphasis to Ukraine.”

With a potential increase in attention to the dire situation in Ukraine, an avenue may open to get more donations that help the citizens in Odesa and other neighboring cities in the coming months.

Turkel said that the purchases that come from donation money go beyond physical necessities like food and clothing.

“It’s also protective gear for paramedics, medical supplies, trauma-focused therapy, emotional first-aid training, even teacher training and compensation for people who’ve been out of work for a while,” Turkel said. “It’s really the full holistic security blanket that we’re providing them through the Federation dollars here in Baltimore.”

He added that at the beginning of the war, plenty of people wanted to physically donate items like toys and food, but that it is easiest for items to be purchased on the ground in Ukraine through people like Nelina and distributed internally.

Turkel said that with everything going on and the possibility of Russia pushing the limits with what they can get away with during a transition of power, it’s important to keep paying attention to Ukraine and send messages to people in the sister community if possible to show support.

“This, unfortunately, is not going to be the last bloody day in Ukraine. I think that we need to really raise awareness. We need to emphasize how important it is to support our Jewish brethren that are overseas, there and isolated, and do whatever we can with our time, treasures and talents to really help them,” Turkel said.

bhamelin@midatlanticmedia.com