Ukraine (MNN) — Russia rains missiles on Kyiv, killing at least 11, because the West promised more weapons to Ukraine. The Kremlin says arming Ukraine equates to “direct involvement” in the war, something the United States and Europe deny.
Russia’s war on Ukraine has reached a stalemate, but Western tanks could help Kyiv launch a new offensive against Moscow:
“These tanks could be critical to Ukraine’s prospects for mounting a successful offensive in the late winter or spring. Russia’s momentum has stalled since the early days of the war, while Ukraine has mounted successful counteroffensives around Kherson and Kharkiv, taking back about 20 percent of the territory Russia occupied in early 2022. But there is still an immense amount of territory in Ukraine’s south and east that has been occupied by Russian forces since the start of the war on February 24, 2022 (to say nothing of the territory in Crimea and the Donbas that Russia has occupied since 2014). Their front line stretches over eight hundred miles, and Russian forces have been digging in and fortifying their positions. Ukraine needs modern battle tanks such as the Leopard 2 to have any hope of punching through Russian positions without suffering appalling casualties.”
(Photo courtesy of unfoldingWord)
No matter how the winds of war may shift, church-centric Bible translators stand ready to adapt and persevere.
unfoldingWord Eurasia
Arne* heads up unfoldingWord’s work in Eurasia. The ministry’s primary contact lives in Kyiv with his family. “They don’t have basic utilities, so a lot of their day is spent either in the dark or in the cold,” Arne says.
“It’s very difficult right now. Electricity goes out frequently [and] when they’re disconnected from outside means of communication, they don’t know when the next round of bombs is coming until it hits them.”
unfoldingWord partners with churches in and around Ukraine to translate God’s Word into Romani languages. More about that here. The war in Ukraine delays believers’ work, but Arne says, “the work will not stop because the heart of the people is for the translation.”
Furthermore, “amid challenging circumstances, there’s an upside for the Gospel,” Arne says.
“The war drives people into churches on both sides of the border. There’s much more church participation in Russia and Ukraine.”
Believers in and around Ukraine aren’t giving up on the work God has called them to do. You can stand alongside them here.
Above all else, pray. Pray “that we seek God rightly in this context and understand His will rightly,” Arne requests.
“[Pray] that we would find a way to rejoice in the fact that Jesus is on the throne, and Russia is not; the U.S. is not. If we can keep our focus there (on Jesus), we’ll be okay.”
*Pseudonym
Header image depicts a private commercial institution in Kupiansk (Kharkiv region of Ukraine) after Russian shelling on January 25, 2023. (Wikimedia Commons)
