Displaying items by tag: Ukraine

Thursday, 13 October 2022 20:31

Ukraine: heavy shelling and NATO aid

On 10 October Russian troops began launching a daily series of missile strikes, targeting civilians and energy facilities in populated regions to kill and create chaos. President Volodymyr Zelensky said, ‘They want to destroy our energy system. They are incorrigible. The second target is people. Such a time and such goals were specially chosen to cause as much damage as possible. We are dealing with terrorists trying to wipe us off the face of the earth.’  On 13 October Ukraine’s allies from fifty countries meeting at NATO headquarters announced deliveries to Kyiv of advanced air defence weapons, including missiles and radars. The USA earlier made a similar pledge. One high-tech system from Germany is already in Ukraine. Kyiv hailed the summit as ‘historic’. Hours later, while people slept, Russian shelling hit a five-storey residential building in Mykolaiv, destroying the upper two floors.

Published in Europe
Friday, 07 October 2022 10:51

Ukrainians who don’t flee

Not all Ukrainians desire to start a new life abroad. There are tens of thousands of Eastern Ukrainians in refugee camps, schools, kindergartens or government buildings, hoping they will be able to return home once the war is over. They refuse to think that there will be no homes to return to. These refugee camps are everywhere in Transcarpathia (in the far west of Ukraine) which, at the moment, is a place of safety. The Carpathian Mountains separate them from Putin’s bombs. Pray for the safety of the brave Europeans visiting refugee locations with food, clothes and household needs.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 29 September 2022 22:09

Ukraine: Military Ministries International

Military Ministries International (MMI) are in various continents including Europe. In Ukraine they have been busy serving soldiers, military widows, and military families by providing daily internet prayer and Bible study times to different groups. There are several meetings with large numbers of soldiers for evangelism. MMI received food produce at the logistics centres and then distributed it to soldiers and widows. They were able to include a large group of military widows in the UN humanitarian programme this summer. A young American volunteer was baptised recently by an MMI pastor who sends a word of encouragement from the Bible individually to a few hundred people (mostly soldiers) and coordinates the ministry of the MMI chaplains. A very great encouragement for chaplains is the international daily MMI prayer through Zoom, which has been held since the war began. MMI requests prayer for God to give strength, wisdom and unity to all the military.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 22 September 2022 22:53

Britons held by Russians released

Five British nationals captured by Russian-backed forces in Ukraine have returned to the UK. Aiden Aslin, John Harding, Dylan Healy, Andrew Hill, and Shaun Pinner have been reunited with their families after landing at Heathrow Airport. Ten detainees, including the five Britons, were released after Saudi Arabia brokered an exchange between Russia and Ukraine. The Praesidium Network confirmed the five men are now safely home. Mr Pinner's sister Cassandra told the BBC: ‘We are just so happy he's home, safe and sound. He's in good spirits - just as funny as always!’ She thanked those involved in organising his return and said she was ‘just amazed this day has come’. In a video recorded on the plane, Mr Pinner said they had escaped ‘by the skin of our teeth’.

Published in Praise Reports
Thursday, 22 September 2022 22:05

Ukraine: cargo ships leaving

On 24 August a total of 33 cargo ships carrying 719,549 tons of foodstuffs left Ukraine, under a deal brokered by the UN and Turkey. Although the pace of exports has risen in September, volumes are well below last season’s levels. Ukraine also has a rail link to Moldova that could be used to carry ten million tons of freight a year. See On 2 September American media reported that Ukraine says Russia is using cargo ships to ferry weapons to the Black Sea. Kyiv has asked Turkey to block passage of sanctioned vessels making journeys from Syria through straits controlled by Ankara. See also the world article on the Horn of Africa.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 15 September 2022 22:21

Ukraine: regaining territory but reservoir bombed

The Russians have fled vital supply hub cities, saying they have withdrawn ‘to regroup’ and ‘bolster efforts’ on the Donetsk front. Social media images reveal a chaotic retreat. Tanks, armoured vehicles, weapons and ammunition were abandoned on the roadside, proving Ukraine's army can reclaim Russian-occupied territory. As well as gaining ground in the east, Ukraine is making gains in the south, causing Russian forces to dig into defensive positions.Putin, within Russia, enjoys a reputation of being invincible. After these embarrassing defeats, and having to ask other countries for weapons, his aura of invincibility is fading. It has not ended well for past Russian leaders who fought wars and didn't win them. Putin rarely admits to making mistakes or U-turns. After failing to hold Ukraine's cities, on 15 September he took revenge by bombing a reservoir. President Zelensky said, ‘You are weaklings who fight civilians; the reservoir had no military value at all’.

Published in Europe
Friday, 09 September 2022 09:58

Ukraine: joy and trauma for schoolchildren

379 children have been killed since the war in Ukraine began; 223 are missing; 7,013 children have been forcibly transferred to Russia. Six months of war have damaged 2,400 schools and destroyed 269. Most teenagers are anxious about returning to school. For Mariia Makohin, walking through the college gates was an act of bravery. ‘I was a little bit nervous because I don’t know what Russian terrorists will do nowadays. Every day we have sirens, and I don’t know if they will attack us when we are at school.’ The return to school routine introduced a new ritual: a practice run to the school’s bomb shelter in the basement. In schools across Ukraine, debris has been cleared, blood scrubbed off floors, and repairs made where possible as a generation of shell-shocked children return to their studies. Only half of Ukraine’s schools have reopened, due to extreme risks of bombings.

Published in Europe
Thursday, 01 September 2022 21:26

Ukraine: UN team inspect Zaporizhzhia

On 1 September, shelling near Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant complex forced a visit by UN experts to be delayed. Earlier, Energoatom said Russian shelling forced the shutdown of one of only two operating reactors, while Moscow said it had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to seize the plant. There are regular incidents at or near Zaporizhzhya. The plant was recently disconnected from Ukraine's power grid and back-up generators kicked in to supply power after fires damaged overhead power lines, cutting the plant off for the first time in its history. The director of IAEA, Rafael Grossi, said the team had made good progress on the first day of their inspection and would be staying on. Residents near the site were given iodine tablets recently in case of a radiation leak.

Published in Europe
Friday, 26 August 2022 10:48

New York Jets follow Jesus' lead

The women, children and elderly fleeing Ukraine are suffering the most, dealing with the trauma from Russia’s ongoing onslaught. In support of what churches in Ukraine and Poland are doing, the New York Jets donated $100,000 towards the work of ‘CityServe Krakow Housing Project’. Their goal is to expand refugee housing in Krakow, Poland. The money will provide safe homes for families which include a kitchen and laundry room, and food and vital necessities. CityServe said it is incredible that a secular organisation should partner with faith-based organisations to see the gospel spread in this war-torn region.

Published in Praise Reports
Friday, 26 August 2022 10:45

Hope amidst fear

Bible Society staff are taking humanitarian aid and Bibles to cities under heavy attack in Ukraine to provide ‘hope amidst fear’. With local churches they take food, medicines and Bibles to homes and to bomb shelters. In one bomb shelter in a school, people read Psalm 91 day and night. War has brought many changes to Ukraine’s Bible Society but they meet every challenge. Their bookshelves now store medicine, and the team travel off-road in medical convoys to bring Bibles, scripture-based resources, humanitarian aid and pastoral care to the most devastated places. They say, ‘We are sharing living bread and physical bread.’

Published in Praise Reports