Category Archives: War against Ukraine

On the Frontline

George returned today from the east.  For the past 4 days he has been 25 kilometers from the frontline of the war in the east.  He was surrounded by defensive military positions and warned not tIMG_0156o take a walk because the fields were mined.  Faint sounds of shelling could be heard in the distance.

Whereas this was as close as we wanted to get to the war, many other pastors are living in the occupied territory of Donetsk where lawlessness and human suffering govern the land.  They live in the midst of  the war that has claimed over 6,000 lives and left 1.2 million people displaced.  These pastors lost their homes and belongings to shelling.  Yet they stay and minister to their congregations.

Pastors and church leaders came IMG_0124across the frontline and from the regions just outside the conflict zone where the spread of war is an ever-present fear.  They gathered together in this “safe place” for Timothy Leadership Training on pastoral care.  God blessed the training and 23 church leaders left with action plans to care for the communities living in crisis.

Pray that God would bless these plans and continue to build His Kingdom in a land broken and destroyed by war.  May God bring peace and comfort in the midst of suffering, and may His will triumph over the evil plans of the adversary.

Victory Day

During World War II, Ukraine was devastated by the German advance on the USSR and was completely occupied by the Nazis.  When the Nazi’s retreated from the USSR, once again villages and cities of Ukraine were plundered and destroyed.  8 million Ukrainians died in World War II.  Over 2,000 of the USSR’s war heroes were Ukrainian.

To commemorate the Allied victory of World War II and Ukraine’s role as part of the former-Soviet Armed Forces, two infomercials have been released in Ukraine.  They serve to clarify the misinformation coming from Russia and to tie history with current events.  In both videos the language spoken is Russian and they are aired with Ukrainian subtitles.  These YouTube versions have subtitles in English.

 

 

One Year in a Minute

ABC News gives a short video synopsis of the past year in Ukraine.  It’s decent except for their labeling the conflict a “civil war”.  This is not a civil war but Putin would like you think it is.  He doesn’t want the rest of the world to care about the fact that he is doing everything he can to wage war against Ukraine without the world doing anything about it.  War is real.  5,400 civilians (the numbers may be much higher) have lost their lives already. Pray for peace in Ukraine!

http://abcnews.go.com/International/video/ukraine-timeline-crisis-28761247