Voice of Ukraine

From Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 383):

Fill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O Lord.
Psalm 83:16

Russia fuels anti-Western protests in Moldova in an attempt to overthrow its government. The police have detained several people suspected of being Russian agents.
“Anti-war” rallies led by pro-Russian activists are happening in several European countries.
Poland builds Europe’s largest land force, more than doubling its army, to be ready to counter the Russian threat.
These reports are disturbing. We see dictators siding with each other, sending messages to the free democratic world, testing the boundaries, and crossing one “red line” after another, all of that in the pursuit of power and wealth. I wouldn’t be far from the truth if I said that World War III, the fear of many leaders, is already taking place, but the active combat zone is limited to Ukraine.
There is an international legion of volunteers fighting for Ukraine on the frontlines. These people are giving their lives not just for Ukraine but for the values Russia has trampled on. Since 2014, over 150 foreign citizens have been killed in combat in Ukraine. Twenty of them were killed in 2023. Citizens of the UK, the USA, Canada, Syria, Colombia, Sweden, Belarus, Finland, France, Poland, Izrael, and Estonia died fighting in the Donetsk region (Bakhmut, Soledar, and Vuhledar battles) in the past two and a half months. We learned that the soldier whom the Russians executed for saying “Glory to Ukraine” actually held citizenship of Moldova. He moved his family to Ukraine in 2008, so he wasn’t born here, he wasn’t obliged by Ukrainian citizenship, but he died as a Ukrainian hero by choice.
Lord, help us remember every hero from every nation, and help us be worthy of their sacrifice.

While the reports from the frontline are disconcerting, God finds ways to remind us about His sovereignty and grace. I saw an interview with one of the power engineers today. We haven’t had a blackout in a month now, and the reporter asked him how this is possible when even the optimistic experts claimed we would have to live with power outages at least until the end of April. He responded that they were also surprised about the way it all worked out – they learned ways to prevent massive damage during the missile attacks, and they also managed to exceed the expected repairs rate. He also said that nature played a significant part in it – we’ve had an unusually mild winter (which reduced the expected energy consumption); the weather conditions were favorable during repairs; the spring flooding (caused by melting snow) started mid-February instead of April, which increased energy production by the hydropower stations, and the sunny weather also increases the amount of energy produced by solar power stations. These natural reasons are too intentional to be dismissed as pure coincidence. We praise the Maker of this world for finely tuning it according to His mercy and grace.

Our son had an assignment in his English class – they were learning about poetry and had to write an alliteration pyramid poem. The poem he came up with (I did help him a little bit, but only with the alliteration part) seems so appropriate in light of that report shared by the power engineer:
God
Good God
Good God governs
Good God governs gently

Amen!