Ukraine
Ethnic groups
Ukrainian 77.8%, Russian 17.3%, Belarusian 0.6%, Moldovan 0.5%, Crimean Tatar 0.5%, Bulgarian 0.4%, Hungarian 0.3%, Romanian 0.3%, Polish 0.3%, Jewish 0.2%, other 1.8% (2001 est.)
The Ukrainian Jewish Committee was established in 2008 in Kyiv with the aim of concentrating the efforts of Jewish leaders in Ukraine on resolving the community's strategic problems and addressing socially significant issues. The Committee declared its intention to become one of the world's most influential organizations protecting the rights of Jews and "the most important and powerful structure protecting human rights in Ukraine".[89]
In the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary elections, All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda" won its first seats in the Ukrainian Parliament,[90] garnering 10.44% of the popular vote and the fourth most seats among national political parties;[91] This led to concern among Jewish organizations both inside and outside Ukraine who accused "Svoboda" of openly Nazi sympathies and being antisemitic.[92][93] In May 2013, the World Jewish Congress listed the party as neo-Nazi.[94] "Svoboda" itself has denied being antisemitic.[95]
Antisemitic graffiti and violence against Jews are still a problem in Ukraine.[23]
Since the February 2014 ending of the Euromaidan protests unrest has gripped southern and eastern Ukraine, and this escalated in April 2014 into the ongoing War in Donbas.[96]
In April 2014, leaflets were distributed by three masked man as people left a synagogue in Donetsk (the biggest city in Donbas) ordering Jews to register to avoid losing their property and citizenship "given that the leaders of the Jewish community of Ukraine support the Banderite junta in Kyiv[nb 1] and are hostile to the Orthodox Donetsk Republic and its citizens".[97][98] While many speak of a hoax (concerning the authorship of the tracts) which took on international proportions, the fact that these flyers were distributed remains undisputed.[97]
Due to the growing 2014 Ukrainian unrest, Ukrainian Jews making aliyah from Ukraine reached 142% higher during the first four months of 2014 compared to the previous year.[99] 800 people arrived in Israel over January–April, and over 200 signed up for May 2014.[99] On the other hand, chief rabbi and Chabad emissary of Dnipropetrovsk Shmuel Kaminezki claimed late April 2014 "Today, you can come to Dnipropetrovsk or Odessa and walk through the streets openly dressed as a Jew, with nothing to be afraid of".[100]
In August 2014, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is organizing chartered flights to allow at least 150 Ukrainian Jews, to immigrate to Israel in September. Jewish organizations within Ukraine, as well as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Jewish community of Dnipropetrovsk, have arranged temporary homes and shelters for hundreds of Jews who fled the War in Donbas in eastern Ukraine. Hundreds of Jews have reportedly fled the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk, and Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein stated (in August 2014) that more Jews may leave for Israel if the situation in eastern Ukraine continues to deteriorate.[101][102]
In 2014 the Jews Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Volodymyr Groysman were appointed Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and Speaker of the Parliament respectively.[103][104] Groysman became Prime Minister of Ukraine in April 2016.[105]
Ukraine elected its first Jewish president in the 2019 presidential election where former comedian and actor of the TV series Servant of the People, Volodymyr Zelensky won over incumbent Petro Poroshenko.[106]
As of 2012, Ukraine had the fifth-largest Jewish community in Europe and the twelfth-largest Jewish community in the world, behind South Africa and ahead of Mexico. The majority of Ukrainian Jews live in four large cities: Kyiv (about half of all Jews living in Ukraine),[8] Dnipro, Kharkiv and Odessa.[107] Rabbis Yaakov Dov Bleich of Kyiv and Shmuel Kaminezki[108] of Dnipro are considered to be among the most influential foreigners in the country.[109] Opened in October 2012 in Dnipro, the multifunctional Menorah center is probably one of the biggest Jewish community centers in the world.[110][111]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Ukraine