When Russia launched a wave of cruise and ballistic missiles toward targets across the country, including Kyiv, Mary and I began hearing explosions and made our way to shelter in the corridor. Mary’s dad called and started sending pictures of the explosions he was seeing overhead.
The booms aren’t always close enough for us to hear personally, but this is one of Russia’s frequent mass attacks on Ukraine’s “energy infrastructure.” I put energy infrastructure in quotation marks because innocent Ukrainians are the real target. Ukraine’s air defense systems neutralize most of the missiles, but these attacks still do horrible damage. More often than not, debris falls on civilian buildings, killing or maiming people or trapping them under wreckage.
A missile (not just debris) targeted and hit a major children’s hospital here in Kyiv. Children from all over Ukraine travel to this hospital for treatment. Now the hospital is badly damaged and there are kids injured and trapped under the rubble. There are just no words to describe this kind of thing.
Even when the missiles really do hit energy infrastructure, we can’t pretend that that’s an acceptable military target. When rockets fall Ukrainians suffer. It’s that simple. Thanks to these attacks, Ukraine has lost much of its ability to generate electricity. To cope, the government has to ration energy. Here in Kyiv we are promised a cycle of 2 hours of electricity, 4 hours of blackouts, and 3 hours that could go either way. People have to figure out how to shower, how to work, how to get upstairs, how to cook, and how to keep food safe when electricity isn’t guaranteed. There might not be running water. There might not be internet. There might not be elevators. Your electric stove certainly won’t work and neither will your fridge.
But Ukrainians are resilient. They find very clever ways to cope with these challenges. And the blackouts are scheduled, which makes it a bit easier to be intentional.
No, the blackouts aren’t much of a problem when we think of wounded children trapped under rubble. And that’s not all the damage. Other residential buildings in Kyiv were hit today. The top floor of one building was basically shaved off. A five-story building lost an entire stairwell and the attached apartments. We are still waiting for the final numbers, but the count is at 10 deaths and 35 injured in Kyiv so far.
We keep watching in shock and horror as they pull children out of the wreckage. Along with all Ukrainians, we’re angry at the injustice. This can’t go on. There’s got to be something we can do about this.
So we turn to God, who has the whole world in His hands. We’re confused with why and how He lets these things happen. Somehow, He is working out His grace during this time. We don’t really see it today. But we do hear about prayers making a difference. We do hear about people turning to God on the front lines of the war. Our friend who does chaplain ministry told us that on the front lines, “no one is an atheist.”
So please join us in praying for Ukraine today. Pray that even today Ukrainians would direct their mourning and weeping toward God and seek refuge in him. Pray for a just end to this war and Russia’s attacks. Pray for Ukrainians to seek God and find hope and refuge in him. Pray for God’s protection over the lives of all Ukrainians and their children.
Andrew and Mary are Inspire Missioners and OMS missionaries in Kyiv, Ukraine. Mary is Ukrainian and all her family live in Ukraine. Click here to read more and find out how to support Andrew and Mary.
