From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 984)
Fill their faces with shame,
that they may seek your name, O Lord.
Psalm 83:16
It sounded like a nice plan – my mom and my niece were going to come over on Friday night, and we were going to spend the weekend together.
The air raid started in the middle of the night, and it wasn’t just a precaution. Drones were coming at Kyiv from different locations. We moved the kids to our apartment corridor, and the adults who couldn’t fit in there tried to move away from the windows.
The attack lasted well into the morning. We waited for the alert to clear and went into the kitchen for breakfast. Twenty minutes later, there was another air raid. The kids moved back to the corridor for 20 minutes until it cleared. An hour later, another air raid. This time, we heard some explosions in our area. We continued visiting and waiting for the air raid to end to go out. When it did, we couldn’t even leave the apartment because a new air raid started in 15 minutes.
Can you imagine a Saturday morning interrupted so many times? I was glad we had no urgent plans and could just stay in. However, imagine someone who has an appointment, and the frustration of not getting there because the public transportation stops, and only one of the three operating bridges across the Dnipro River is open. Imagine children’s birthday parties ruined because amusement parks had to close. Imagine someone being stuck on a metro platform trying to get to work but still unable to cross the river.
We were able to relax after 1 pm when all the drones finally left the Kyiv area.
New drones came around 8 pm. We didn’t even try to go to sleep in our beds and settled in the hallway, even though there were some short breaks in between the air raids. But the day before gave us a hint of what our night might look like. The sirens finally cleared at 6:30 a.m.
As you might have noticed, I didn’t mention all the damage these drones caused. I didn’t write about an apartment building in Kyiv that was hit. I didn’t write about the debris. I wrote just about our personal experience of frustrating inconveniences.
I read somewhere that the Russians are working on a new tactic – sending fewer drones but in a non-stop pattern to make our air raids last 24/7. I wouldn’t be surprised because, in the past two days, the air raid lasted a total of 17 hours. Russia has launched almost 7,000 drones since the beginning of the year, and over 2,000 (30%) were launched in October.
I’m still amazed and incredibly grateful to God that these air raids mostly don’t affect our school routine. It is a miracle and a blessing!
Please keep praying for Ukraine. Russia is a bully that terrorizes all – Ukrainians by drones and missiles, Europeans by nuclear threats, and the rest of the world by pushing fear buttons they can find.
Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;
let them perish in disgrace,
that they may know that you alone,
whose name is the Lord,
are the Most High over all the earth.
Psalm 83:17-18
Voice of Ukraine 