Russia/Ukraine (MNN) — Yesterday, the United States closed its embassy in Kyiv, expecting a strong attack from Russia. Italy, Spain, and Greece also closed their embassies Wednesday, and Ireland instructed its embassy staff in Ukraine to work from home.
A Russian attack was anticipated due to US President Joe Biden giving Ukraine the green light to use American long-range missiles to hit targets within Russia. On Tuesday, Ukraine launched these missiles in an attack on Russian territory. The US is also now providing landmines to Ukrainian forces.
Slavic Gospel Association’s (SGA) Eric Mock says, “It adds escalation, and most certainly, that’s going to continue. But we talk about this in the backdrop of already an existing escalation, because Russia has already been launching a higher number of rockets and drones into Ukraine.
(Photo courtesy of Irpin Bible Church via Eric Mock/SGA)
“We’re seeing massive destruction where we’re seeing residential buildings. There’s no end to the number of children who have lost their lives in this recent escalation. And local think tanks say that as much as anywhere from 1,500 to 1,900 Russian soldiers are dying every day — dying or gravely injured.
“So in the middle of saying, ‘Hey, we’ve added long-range weaponry, so it’s going to get worse.’ It was already getting worse.”
Just over 1,000 days into this war, it’s wearing on Christian leaders in Ukraine. Mock explains, “The reality is there are pastors that are helping to lead two and three churches. A lot of the men have been either serving on the front line or have been lost.”
SGA provides aid and spiritual encouragement to several churches in Ukraine. Since the war began, SGA has distributed over 25 million meals through these churches and reached 1.2 million Ukrainians with the Gospel.
“These are people that would have never, ever graced the door of a church,” says Mock. “Now, they’re walking to the church because it is the only place to get warm, it’s the only place to find hope, and they’re finding a relationship in Jesus Christ.”
Pray for peace in the region and for Ukrainian believers’ faith to endure.
Header photo of ATACMS rocket. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:ATACMS_missiles#/media/File:Atacms.jpg)
