Humanitarian aid and medical supplies airlifted from Israel to help Ukrainian refugees being offloaded in Moldova on March 15, 2022. Photo: United Hatzalah.

A cargo plane carrying 16 tons of humanitarian aid from Israel landed in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau on Tuesday, as the influx of tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees led to a severe shortage of critical supplies, including insulin.

The delivery included medicine, food, and baby formula, and was transferred to sorting centers for distribution. It the first in a series of planned humanitarian cargo deliveries from Israel to Moldova, led by the Israeli volunteer group United Hatzalah.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry and Former Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Joel Lion also helped organize the effort.

More than 330,000 Ukrainian refugees fled to Moldova as of Monday, according to the United Nations. It is the third largest host country after Poland and Romania.

The Jewish community of Moldova, which accepted hundreds of Ukrainian refugees every day since Russia’s invasion, said this inflow led to increased demand for basic goods.

As the refugee population swelled, the chief rabbi of Chisinau, Pinchas Saltzman, asked United Hatzalah and the Israeli government for urgent assistance in supplying medications, kosher food, baby formula, hygienic supplies, blankets, and clothing.

The State Secretary for Moldova, Zinaida Bezverhni, also contacted the Israeli Foreign Ministry, requesting urgent supplies of insulin to address critical shortages.

United Hatzalah’s founder and president, Eli Beer, is overseeing its humanitarian and rescue operations on the ground in Chisinau. The organization “raised donations to help cover the cost of the cargo flights,” he said, and “returned to Israel more than 1,000 Ukrainian refugees over the past week and a half.”