From: Nationalinterest.org By: Melinda Haring
Russia’s onslaught on Ukraine has a definite and unavoidable sectarian dimension.
Editor’s Note: This article is part of the symposium “Human Rights in the Trump Era.” The full symposium can be found here.
As a Christian praise band, clad in double-breasted blue blazers with gold buttons, swayed and sang exuberantly, it almost seemed as though I were attending a religious service in Odessa, Texas, rather than Odesa, Ukraine. The lyrics and melodies were the same. So were the prayers. The only difference was the location and language.
This past May, I participated in an annual prayer breakfast alongside over 200 priests, ministers, rabbis, frontline chaplains, and lay leaders in Odesa, a beautiful seaport located in southern Ukraine. The breakfast was organized by my friend Pavel Unguryan, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament and evangelical leader.
In April 2024, Unguryan helped persuade US House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to bring the $61 billion supplemental bill to the floor for a vote. Unguryan conveyed to him the deep faith of Ukraine’s evangelical community, which is largely based in southern and eastern Ukraine. He also spoke to Johnson about Russia’s ghastly treatment of evangelical Christians in occupied Ukraine, including bombing churches and torturing priests.
The importance of this issue can scarcely be exaggerated. Protestants comprise 2–4 percent of the Ukrainian population. Still, in 2022, more than one-third of the reported incidents of persecution were directed at Protestant Christians, according to the Institute for the Study of War. More than 47 Christian leaders have been murdered, and the first-hand testimonials of torture are harrowing. Moscow has systematically targeted evangelicals—it views them as spies in league with Washington—and it really despises Baptists. Russia has destroyed more than 60 Baptistcongregations since the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Voice of Ukraine 