Jewish support for Ukraine: why the American RDI delegation came to Moshe Asman and why this is an important signal

On March 29, 2026, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Asman announced that he received a delegation from the Renew Democracy Initiative organization at the synagogue, discussed humanitarian work with its representatives, and possible joint projects to assist those affected by the war. His message also included a key figure: according to Asman, since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, RDI has provided Ukraine with humanitarian aid worth over 15 million dollars.

At first glance, this looks like another gratitude meeting. But if you look closer, the plot is noticeably broader. Because it’s not about a local fund or random donors, but about an American organization that combines political, social, and humanitarian work, directly naming Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China as part of the authoritarian axis, while separately leading the Ukrainian direction of assistance to frontline communities.

For the Israeli audience, there is an additional layer here. This story is exactly at the intersection of three themes that are increasingly converging today: Ukraine, Jewish solidarity, and the international coalition against authoritarian regimes. Therefore, the visit of the RDI delegation to Asman is not just about charity. It’s also about the political language of support that the West is gradually building around Ukraine.

Who is the Renew Democracy Initiative and why it’s not just a humanitarian fund

RDI is an American pro-democracy organization, not formally a Jewish structure

According to the official description, the Renew Democracy Initiative is an American nonprofit organization in the 501(c)(3) format, whose mission is to expose and contain the alliance of dictatorships threatening freedom worldwide. On the RDI website, it is presented not as a narrowly focused charitable fund, but as a structure that combines civic education, advocacy, media work, and practical support for ‘frontline democracies’.

This is an important point. RDI cannot be precisely called a ‘Jewish organization’ in the formal sense. But it has a noticeable Jewish and pro-Ukrainian context in its leadership and public activities. The chairman and founder of RDI is Garry Kasparov, and the CEO is Uriel Epshtein. It is Epshtein, as the organization itself writes, who led the expansion of RDI programs and the delivery of nearly 15 million dollars of humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war.

The Ukrainian direction at RDI is not symbolic

On a separate Ukraine page, the organization explicitly states that it focuses on supporting frontline Ukrainian communities, strives to purchase aid within Ukraine whenever possible, and delivers it where relatively small interventions have a disproportionately large impact on the ground. It is also emphasized that it is not only about helping refugees abroad, but specifically about supporting people staying near the line of fire.

If you compare different public materials from RDI, it is clear that the organization has long and consistently been leading the Ukrainian track. On the CEO Uriel Epshtein’s page, it mentions nearly $15 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine. On the Giving Tuesday page, it mentions nearly $14 million and provides specific volumes: 69,112 sleeping bags, 466,820 MRE food kits, and over 1.33 million dollars for medical supplies and humanitarian aid. In an earlier annual report for 2023, RDI mentioned an amount exceeding 11 million dollars. In other words, the exact public figures fluctuate slightly depending on the page update date, but the scale of aid is officially confirmed.

Why the meeting with Asman looks politically important

Asman talks about joint projects, not just gratitude

In the message from the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, the word ‘thank you’ is not the only important part. He specifically writes that he told the delegation about his own humanitarian work and discussed the possibilities of joint projects to help people more effectively. This is already a different level of contact. Not ‘came, took photos, left’, but an attempt to understand how an American organization with resources and connections can integrate into the existing aid infrastructure within Ukraine.

For Ukraine, this is a rational step. Asman has his own humanitarian authority, a network of trust, and symbolic weight within the Jewish community and far beyond. RDI has American resources, a public voice, and access to political and social circles in the USA. Together, this looks like a logical attempt to combine local legitimacy with external support.

For Israel, there is a separate signal here

An Israeli reader in this story may see more than just a delegation visit to a Kyiv synagogue. In recent months, both Ukraine and the international structures associated with it are increasingly trying to describe the war not only as a Ukrainian tragedy but as part of a broader conflict of the free world with the authoritarian axis. On the RDI website, this is stated almost directly: it is about confronting dictatorships and their allies, including Iran.

Here the plot begins to sound already sharply Israeli. Because for Israel, Iran is not an academic category and not a point in the discussion about global democracy. It is a living threat. And when an American organization helping Ukraine simultaneously builds a language of struggle against the authoritarian axis, which includes Iran, it creates an understandable framework for the Israeli public. Ukraine, in this approach, ceases to be a ‘foreign European war’ and becomes part of a broader front.

This is why NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency sees in the RDI visit to Moshe Asman not just a humanitarian chronicle. It’s a story about how a network of support continues to gather around Ukraine, where American pro-democracy circles, Jewish solidarity, humanitarian initiatives, and a clear understanding that Russia’s war against Ukraine has long gone beyond one region intersect.

What this meeting really showed

Ukraine still has allies not only at the government level

There is an important detail that is often overlooked. When talking about aid to Ukraine, people usually mention the White House, Congress, the European Union, or large arms packages. But the sustainability of support also relies on another level — on non-governmental structures, networks of trust, religious leaders, civil activists, private donors. RDI is somewhere at this intersection: between political influence, public campaigning, and quite material assistance.

For Ukraine itself, this is good news. Even at a time when Western governments are debating the pace, volumes, and priorities, organizations continue to operate around the country for which support for Ukraine is embedded in a broader ideology of defending the free world. And such connections usually last longer than one news cycle.

And the Jewish theme here is not decorative

The meeting in the synagogue, gratitude to Uriel Epshtein, blessing for saved lives — all this makes the plot deeper. It shows that aid to Ukraine goes not only through official diplomacy and large funds but also through Jewish, pro-Ukrainian, and pro-democracy networks, for which the issue has long been more than just philanthropy.

The final conclusion here is quite simple. Moshe Asman’s post is a small text about a big reality. Ukraine still relies not only on weapons and budgets but also on people, organizations, and alliances that consider its struggle part of their own moral and political agenda. In this sense, the meeting with the Renew Democracy Initiative is important not only because it involves millions of dollars in aid. It is important because it shows that Ukraine still has a language of trust, on which it is ready to communicate both in the synagogue, in Washington, and in the international environment of those who perceive freedom not as a slogan but as a commitment.