What Are Ukrainians Supposed To Do?

Russia is ramping up civilian attacks knowing the US denied defensive weapons to Ukraine. They are attempting to break the spirit of Ukrainians and force them to accept defeat.What is Ukraine supposed to do?

Yana Zhuryk, with the Kyiv Independent, says Russia is trying a new tactic. “For most of this war, an attack on Kyiv was something that happened at night: the sirens, a few bad hours, and by morning it was over, and the city went back to work. Last week, that changed. Since last Thursday, the sirens have run through the night, then straight through the day, then into the next night. I have barely slept, and neither has anyone I know.”

“A few times this week, I was out on the street when a drone was shot down over my neighborhood. You hear it before you see anything — the sound gets louder, then the air defense opens up, then the bang. And then you keep walking to wherever you were going, because what else are you supposed to do?”

What Is Ukraine Supposed To Do?

All across Ukraine on Knowledge Day, September 1^st, elementary students returned to class in bomb shelters.

At least 13 people were injured after Russian drones struck central Kyiv on the morning of September 2^nd, damaging the National University of Food Technology, a residential building, and a medical facility. 160 students were in shelters when the drone struck the University and none were injured. The strikes came amid the seventh consecutive day of almost uninterrupted Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital.

Odesa, Ukraine’s picturesque Black Sea port ​city, was attacked on September 3rd. The attack wounded ​17 people, including 3 children and damaged a 21-storey residential ‌building. This level of attack was unprecedented in the 4 ¼ years of the war.

During all that, one of pastors was chased by the Ukrainian Conscription police and escaped by jumping over a fence into his backyard and locked himself in his house where he was safe. It’s sounds bizarre. Russia attacks from above. Ukraine hunts their own men as well, desperate for reinforcements at the front. Already three of our married pastors with children were taken to the frontlines. They send us pictures of heavy weapons and training.

On August 23rd, over 1,500 international participants gathered in Kyiv for a Prayer Breakfast.

Jill Nelson, correspondent for Christianity Today, was there. She explained how she had been covering the war in Ukraine since 2012 and did not imagine that she “would be continuing to cover a full-scale invasion that is four and a half years in.”

Hope

Despite the horror there is hope. We see it in the coffee shop owners whose place of business is destroyed at 4:00am and by noon the windows are replaced by plywood, tables and chairs are set up, the sound of bombs is traded for the grinding of beans and fresh coffee is brewing ready to be turned into Canadianos.

Leonid and Tanya during her cancer battle.

We see hope in Leonid and Tanya, refugee pastors from their home in the occupied territories, who settled into a new community and opened a church in. an old building. Tanya fights a battle against cancer as well as the Russians. But they are renovating their space with indoor washrooms, new windows, a youth rooms, new plumbing and electrical with donated Canadian funds from REVwords readers and friends.

Our goal is $15,000 CAN and we are at $11,800 so far and plan to see the rest come in by the end of October.

They are hopeful, not wishful, leaders.

My friend, Tim Schindel, says, “Hope does not tell people that everything will be fine. It tells them that the future is not finished.

Hopeful leadership helps people see that they still have a part in shaping what comes next.

That makes hope more than an attitude.

It makes hope a leadership strategy.”

Keep hope alive. Please post a comment. Thank you.

Hope grows here. We share stories that inspire people, build faith, and offer lasting purpose.

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