USGLC Partners Continue to Support Ukraine Amidst Continued War

February 23, 2024 By Elizabeth Onibokun

When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, he hoped for a short and easy campaign. Now, as we mark the second anniversary of this war, Putin’s ambitions continue to be stymied by the resilient Ukrainian people and its military, as well as a unified coalition of more than 50 NATO allies and partners. The continued resilience of the Ukrainian people and Western resolve is a testament, in part, to the impact of American leadership and investment to ensure Ukraine’s government can continue to function and defend its territory.

The future of Ukraine will not be defined only by what happens on the battlefield. Putin is aggressively pursuing a two-pronged approach: attempting to destroy Ukraine’s military while also attacking its economy. Continued American support is critical to help Ukraine push back against both fronts. Whether that is responding to humanitarian needs, re-building critical infrastructure, strengthening good governance, or keeping Ukraine’s lights on and energy grid running, civilian assistance remains a huge return on investment that is pennies on the dollar for the American people – enabling Ukraine to continue providing basic and essential services to its citizens without deploying our own servicemembers into harm’s way.

As global crises rise, so do threats against the United States and its allies, which is why the implications of this war extend beyond the boundaries of Ukraine and directly to American interests. As Penny Pritzker, the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery, said, “We know that Ukraine’s future, its security, its economic resilience and recovery, and its Euro-Atlantic path is essential to our security, to the world’s stability and to the future of democracy.”

Read on for ways that USGLC private sector and NGO members are supporting the people of Ukraine:

ADM’s 650 employees continue to operate in Ukraine 24/7. Their commitment to serving Ukraine’s agricultural sector and global food security continues to inspire us every day. Since the beginning of the conflict, ADM has contributed $15M through 1) in-kind donations, 2) support for NGOs, such as the World Food Program, the Red Cross, and others, 3) support to our employees through compensation, emergency housing and food supplies; and 4) matching colleague contributions to support employees and NGOs. ADM is also focused on Ukraine’s recovery, including through our support for the Halo Trust and demining efforts in agricultural areas.

Amazon has committed more than $75 million to date in support to help the people of Ukraine address both immediate and long-term needs. Amazon’s support includes the donation of millions of critical relief products—from medical supplies for Ukraine hospitals to blankets, food, toys, and books for refugees crossing the border to devices to help Ukrainian children continue their education as well as cloud computing support to help the government preserve vital Ukrainian government, education, and banking institution data, and more.

Boeing and its employees have donated $4.4M to organizations supporting Ukrainians impacted by the conflict Since Russia’s invasion in 2022. Funds include $1 million to USGLC Coalition Member CARE and multiple grants to partners supporting children, youth, wounded soldiers, and student-led post-war reconstruction initiatives. Despite the war, Boeing has continued to hire at its Kyiv design center, where it currently employs more than 1,100 colleagues.

CARE initiated its operations in Ukraine in March 2022. Over the past two years, CARE’s programs have reached over 1.2 million individuals, providing them with essentials for survival. Initially focused on housing and basic needs for internally displaced persons, CARE is now increasingly addressing psychological support, gender-based violence, conflict-related violence, housing rehabilitation, and women’s leadership development in emergencies. CARE strengthens institutional capacities in frontline regions, working to restore water supply networks and provide municipal services with new equipment to ensure quality and essential services to the population.

Cargill has committed more than $40 million to support humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine and the broader region. This includes humanitarian efforts with partners like World Central Kitchen and the World Food Program USA. For example, Cargill has provided 429,000 meals to people in need through World Central Kitchen since the beginning of the conflict. In partnership with Superhumans, we supported the opening of a state-of-the-art rehabilitation center for injured adults and children in 2023, which is expected to treat 2,800 patients a year. Farmer livelihoods and rebuilding of Ukraine’s agricultural economy are also critical to ensure ongoing global food security. Ukraine is now the most mined country in the world, and Cargill is partnering with the HALO Trust to provide mine risk education to farmers and help them safely remove landmines from agricultural land. Our farmer risk education campaign has already reached more than 5.3 million farmers and agricultural workers. We also partner with the World Food Programme to restore the livelihoods of small farmers with demining, soil rehabilitation and a livelihoods support package.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is working in 12 countries across the region to provide comprehensive assistance that continues to address urgent needs while also helping people in their recovery, rebuilding and healing. CRS support is taking place in: Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovakia, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Georgia. In Ukraine, support from BHA helped CRS directly reach 70,000 people with cash assistance, winterization, rental assistance and home repair. In Moldova, BPRM support helped CRS provide 10,000 Ukrainians with shelter support, 3,000 host families with cash assistance, and 51,653 people with vouchers for hygiene supplies.

Chemonics implements seven programs in Ukraine focused on key activities including supporting agricultural communities and producers, improving judicial quality and effectiveness, independence, accountability, and service delivery, and uniting Ukrainian citizens around common values.

The Coca‑Cola Company’s global bottling partners and The Coca‑Cola Foundation have committed to contributions totaling more than $30 million to support their colleagues and humanitarian relief efforts. When the conflict began, Coca-Cola immediately responded to provide emergency support to NGOs delivering humanitarian relief, including the brave efforts of the Red Cross movement operating in Ukraine and neighboring countries. In addition, Coca-Cola activated urgent financial assistance to all Ukraine-based Coca‑Cola and CCHBC employees. Now, the focus is on the distribution of vital food and water supplies in Ukraine and relief for internally displaced people and refugees in surrounding countries. 

Deloitte implements the USAID Health Reform Support (HRS) project which focuses on restoring health care services, including: 1) supporting internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other vulnerable groups, 2) delivering generators, and 3) combatting mis-, dis-, and mal-information (MDM), among other things. Deloitte also implements the State-Owned Enterprises Reform Activity (SOERA) which works with the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance and other government institutions to advise on the processes in place to oversee and report on the use of Direct Budget Support (DBS) funds provided by the U.S. government.

IFAW continues to work with partners in Ukraine to rescue animals impacted by the war and provide emergency medical treatment and sheltering. Between 24 February 2022 and 31 December 2023, they’ve helped 166,422 animals.

IREX is improving access to safe formal and non-formal learning opportunities for Ukrainian children and youth. With over 3,700 educational institutions destroyed or damaged, both in-person and online education face myriad challenges that result in a loss in educational attainment–there is already a 2.5-year lag in reading and a 1.5-year lag in math and science among Ukrainian children. Within the framework of its UNITY program, IREX is installing 20 Temporary Learning Centers and renovating 40 Youth Centers in communities most severely affected by the war, supporting educational institutions to build capacity, equipping teachers with new skills and knowledge, and developing catch-up programming and curricula.

PepsiCo Foundation has enacted several charity initiatives for Ukraine including but not limited to: the “Dobra kuhnya” charity project to provide free meals in eastern and southern Ukraine, the “Yizha z teplom” project which provides hot meals and food packages to Ukrainians affected by the war, and funding SEED, an educational project designed to help small agribusinesses in a bid to support agricultural business in Ukraine.

Tetra Tech is implementing energy security, humanitarian mine action, monitoring and evaluation, and infrastructure support programs on behalf of USAID, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Tetra Tech employs hundreds of Ukrainians and provides relief to them and their families to continue to ensure their health, safety, and security.

USA for UNHCR has been able to save lives, address the most urgent needs of displaced Ukrainians including through the provision of emergency cash assistance and core relief items, and help communities rebuild from the rubble through sustainable housing support and repairs to damaged homes.

Learn more about what’s happening in Ukraine by visiting our fact sheet.