Ukrainian youths tell Israelis of life under fire

In 2019, a Ukrainian leadership academy youth delegation came to Israel to meet a group of their Jewish peers and learn from Jewish families near the Gaza border what it was like to live under incoming rocket fire.

This week, as the two groups met again via the Zoom online platform, it was the Ukrainians who were left to describe life in a war zone, with Russian soldiers shelling towns, destroying homes and shooting fleeing civilians.

The groups were brought together once again by the non-governmental organisation ISRAEL-is, with whom Jewish News partnered for the film Finding Abraham.

Addressing the group of around 50 young Israelis and Ukrainians, the renowned former Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky said Moscow’s war was a serious mistake.

“For the next 1,000 years, Russia will have to deal with this,” said the Ukraine-born former head of the Jewish Agency, adding that Moscow would struggle to “restore their self-respect as a place among the nations”.

To the young Ukrainians, he said: “At this moment, you are showing what it means when people rediscover their identity, when people feel themselves very deeply connected, passionate, to their history, to the people, to their land. We will pray for you and help you.

“If we think our governments don’t help enough, we’ll continue lobbying to make sure that support of your struggle – which is so important for all of us – will be victorious.”

Israeli organiser Matan Dansker said the meeting was about sending messages to one another and determining ways to cooperate. “When we see what’s happening in your country, the first thing that we want to do is to listen,” he said.

Some Ukrainian participants, such as Anya Skakynova, joined the call from the safety of other European countries, but others, such as those from the battered city of Mykolaiv, joined from underground bomb shelters.

Speaking from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv after having been evacuated, Andrij Marushchak said participants from the Ukrainian Leadership Academy “represent all regions” of the besieged country.

ISRAEL-is co-founder Eyal Biram said: “You’re not alone in this fight. This is a fight for democracy. This is a fight for a free world and mostly this is a fight for young people who want to build a better future.”