Voice of Ukraine

From Lyuda (Day 224): Dear brothers and sisters, We are glad to have a new day, sunny and warm and we hope it will be peaceful. Yesterday the day was interrupted several times with air alarms and we had two air alarms at night. The attacks of drones became often. But it looks like our air defense learned to destroy them, so we don’t have any damage. This night they destroyed six drones that came to attack us.

Yesterday three new families came to our charitable breakfast, two from Kherson region and one from Nikolayev region. There was an announcement for all citizens of southern area in the war zone and close to war zones if possible to leave this area because they expect a lot of war activity there as the liberation of our land is going on. We are so glad to receive news every day of the advance of our army. We rejoice and mark on our maps the cities and villages that became free. But then the opposite wave of emotions comes when we hear the stories of people who lived under the occupation. Almost everywhere they find the places of torturing where the occupants kept civil people who seemed not loyal to them. There are mass graves where the people are found with tired hands and with the signs of terrible tortures, people of different ages, men, women and children.

Sergey and I decided to watch Russian news yesterday evening. We have not watched Russian channels for a long time and weaned from the pressure of intense propaganda. Their so-called journalists even surpassed the propaganda of the Soviet Union, that we knew very well. Whatever they say, their main message comes down to: “Everything is fine, don’t worry, you have a president and a government that takes care of you and all the steps we take are for your good. You do not need to think and delve into what is happening, we will figure everything out ourselves, do not worry” They don’t tell in their news about what is happening to their soldiers, about so many deaths, about dead bodies of many Russian men left in Ukrainian soil. They don’t say that their army is retreating with shame. They say about victories they have “liberating Ukrainian people from the Nazi” and celebrate the annexation of new territories. Very sad.

During our Zoom prayer yesterday Sveta Lukoshkina received a message from her son, Paul. He wrote: “We have very busy days”. Yes, we know how busy our soldiers are now. Please, pray with us for Paul and all the soldiers in combat now.

Tomorrow our daughter Katya and her three children will fly to the USA. They are coming to Birmingham, Alabama for two years according to the program U4U (Uniting for Ukraine). The United States of America actively supports Ukraine with the start of a full-scale invasion and this program is for Ukrainian refugees. We thank God for all people who responded to help our daughter and her children. Please, pray for their safe travel and adjustment to a new culture and a new life.

Thank you for your prayers, for your help and support

In Christ,
Lyuda

P.S. There are photos of our charitable breakfast.