Voice of Ukraine

From Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 379):

Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake!
Psalm 79:9

They called it a “strike of revenge.” Last night the air raid lasted almost 7 hours (between 1 and 8 am). It was the longest air raid and one of the most massive. Many of our friends didn’t sleep the whole night because of the explosions nearby (thankfully, most of the explosions came from our air defense systems). The Russians were trying a new tactic as they launched a wide range of rockets – 81 missiles of 8 different types and 8 kamikaze drones. Unfortunately, we don’t have air defense against some of the missiles they used, so the damage was done in Kyiv, the Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr, and Vinnytsia regions. It was a senseless and cruel waste of almost 500 million dollars!

Unfortunately, there were casualties and destruction, but there was no extensive blackout, and the nice warm spring day made it barely noticeable. A few people we know said it was scary while it lasted, but there were no consequences once it was over. We will never understand why they do it.

Ukraine’s intelligence services have received information that Russia may be planning provocations (possibly, a false-flag operation with many casualties) in Belarus on March 11. One of the leading Russian propagandists is expected to report about it live. They hope that this will undermine the support Ukraine has in the West. Please, pray for these plans to fail and pray for the protection of people and critical infrastructure in Belarus.

March 9 and 10 are the days when we remember the great Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, whose prophetic words are still powerful and relevant today, almost 200 years after they were written. What a great encouragement to read them on days like this:

Keep fighting—you are sure to win!
God helps you in your fight!
For fame and freedom march with you,
And right is on your side! (translated by John Weir)

This is a fragment of the “Caucasus” poem. Shevchenko portrays the nineteenth-century Russian imperial invasion covered by the false claims of bringing Christianity and enlightenment to the people of Caucasus, yet the poet believes in the liberation of the pressed nations (the whole poem at the link https://bit.ly/3mAJ6vP).

Little has changed since then.

Please, keep praying for the enemy to be stopped, for their weapons to fail, and for God’s truth and justice to prevail.