Like many of you around the world, we’re watching what’s happening in Ukraine with horror, concern, and heavy hearts. While we have no direct operations in Ukraine, we have employees and partners who are from or have a deep connection to the country.
Over the past several days, we’ve worked across Amazon to understand how we can best help those who are affected by the violence. It’s difficult for any company without a local presence to provide direct support in a war zone, so we’re donating US$5 million to organizations that are providing critical support on the ground, including UNICEF, UNHCR, World Food Program, Red Cross, Polska Akcja Humanitarna, and Save the Children.
We’ve also heard from employees that they want to help, so we’re matching up to US$5 million in additional donations from our team to those organizations. For customers who want to help, we’re adding donation buttons to the homepages of our websites in the U.S., UK, Poland, and Germany, and will waive our fees for payment processing.
In addition to providing financial support for relief efforts on the ground in Ukraine, we’re also working to support our teams and Ukrainian immigrants in other ways. For example, we gave employees in Poland additional time off to take care of themselves and their families, and we’re working with Ukrainian nationals to expedite immigration work visas if they’ve relocated.
The recovery from the war will take many years, and we’ll continue working with NGOs, our employees, and our partners to support the relief efforts and those affected.
