March 21, 2022 Updated CRS Response to the War in Ukraine

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24^th, the relentless bombing of many of the country’s largest cities coupled with the onslaught of Russian troops on the ground, the numbers of civilian casualties and those displaced escaping the violence has increased rapidly. As of March 16th, the number of civilian deaths in the besieged port city of Mariupol alone topped 2,500, with the quickly rising death toll across the country estimated to be thousands more.

Experts say that the exodus of refugees from Ukraine is the most rapid in Europe since World War II. Counting those who fled the country the week prior to the start of the war, the United Nations reported that Russia's bombardment of residential areas across Ukraine has forced more than 3.5 million refugees to leave for neighboring countries after three weeks of fierce fighting. It’s also estimated that over 4 million additional people have been displaced internally by the conflict.

As the Ukrainian conflict goes on unabated, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) continues to provide staff and resources assist the Church’s local Caritas agencies as they respond to the growing needs across a handful of affected countries, including Ukraine, Romania, Moldova and Poland.

Despite the enormous challenges and uncertainty of what is to come, CRS is supporting Caritas Ukraine (of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) and Caritas Spes (of the Roman Catholic Church) with a range of support, including:

Food assistance; field kitchens that provide hot lunches and snacks
Reception services at Caritas offices, train stations and other locations for displaced people with clothing, information, referrals, food, water, hygiene items, and counseling services.
Transportation of displaced families to friends, families, and local social services.
Evacuation centers providing shelter, food, and counseling services for displaced families. These centers will include support to address emotional care including case management and child-friendly spaces.

Caritas Ukraine has received nearly 315 tons of relief items through humanitarian convoys from EU partners. Nearly 56,000 affected people have received assistance including food, hygiene items and emergency shelter.

Catholic Relief Services is not new to providing help in this region. Since 2014, conflict along the eastern border of Ukraine had already displaced 1.3 million people from their homes and claimed 14,000 lives. Throughout this time, Caritas Ukraine, with support from CRS, has been providing emergency relief and recovery.

For more information on Catholic Relief Services response to the crisis in Ukraine and its neighbors Moldova, Poland and Romania, please see the Ukraine Crisis Watch pages, in both English and Spanish, that are updated regularly, at English/Spanish. Or, contact the diocesan CRS office at [email protected].

Financial contributions are needed for CRS to continue its relief efforts as the crisis increases. To donate please go to the Ukraine crisis donation pages, in English and and Spanish at English/Spanish

A liturgical prayer for peace in Ukraine can is attached here.

Special Reports:

From Moldova on March 7^th, Caroline Brennan, Director of Communications for CRS Emergency Dept., gave an update on what she is seeing in Moldova found on YouTube.
Refugees in Moldova piece on CRS’ Exposure social media channel.

Prayer For Peace In Ukraine