Voice of Ukraine

From Lyuda Betina (Day 366): Dear brothers and sisters, Today we look back and see 365 days and nights that merged into one continuous day – February 24.
Unspeakable pain, unshed tears, suffering and hellish horror. Today we all in our thoughts return to this day a year ago.

That day Sergey and I were woken up by a call at 4.30 a.m. It was from our friend from Odessa who called us to tell about the sounds of explosions in the city. We turned on the news and learned about the bombing of Kiev and other cities. Everything what was going on seemed unreal, like a horror movie that we can turn off and it stops. But it did not stop. Next few days were very hard.

The enemy advanced through our territory, occupying cities and came close to Kyiv. Separate assault groups began to enter the city. It was one of such groups that had the task to liquidate our President.

But in those first difficult days, Ukraine unexpectedly realized that it knows how to defend itself. None of those groups were successful. When they began moving along the streets of the city, they ran into local self-defense groups.

People in Kiev grouped, weapons were distributed to civilians who blocked the streets with barricades. It was impossible for the enemy to get into the city, some of these groups were destroyed and others withdrew. Soon the columns of armored vehicles were destroyed and russian army suffered the first losses. Few weeks later they left Kiev region.

Our southern region was in a very vulnerable position. The enemy was moving from two sides – from Crimea on land and from the Black sea. I remember how fast the defense was organized in Odessa and in all our area. The enemy was stopped near Nikolayev and could not reach Odessa. We knew that that they will try to land from the sea and they did. They tried to land near Odessa and made several attempts on the beach zone not far from our town. No success again. Our defense groups destroyed them in their approach in the water.

The fact that Ukraine, a country whose army could not be compared with the army of Russia, did not fall and stopped the enemy in the first days of the war, was the first miracle. Then God showed us many miracles after that. He gave us the strength and opportunity to see that we can be strong in our weakness when we trust in Him. We looked at our President and saw a new man, responsible and determined, the man who calls upon God and quotes Scripture addressing the nation. Another great miracle was feeling God’s presence that became so real, He has been directing us in our ministry, equipping us for it and answering our prayers in a wonderful way. One more miracle is the prayer army that fights the battle every day. And many-many other things that help us fighting this war.

I want to thank each of you for this opportunity to share my thoughts and feelings and receive such a powerful feedback of prayers. I will continue writing but now I will do it once in a few days.
Thank you for your love and care.

In Christ,
Lyuda

P.S. Other photos taken during the first days of the war.