In 2014 when Russian-backed separatists invaded eastern Ukraine, thousands of folks fled west to cities like Lviv. Today, with the threat of another Russian invasion, authorities in Lviv and across western Ukraine are bracing for five million refugees.
Russia is adding forces and military hardware to the Ukrainian border, inching ever so close to surrounding their neighbor. Washington, D.C., says more than 130,0000 Russian troops are now standing on Ukraine’s borders as fears of a coming invasion continue to grow.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians are holding almost daily drills, ready to defend their country.
And yet, Ukrainian Christians are deploying their own weapon: a shield of prayer and worship.
“People are worried, but we encourage them to look to Jesus with all of our might because it’s only through prayer that we can keep peace in our country,” Kyzmenko Dmytro, pastor of New Generation Church in Lviv tells CBN News.
Seventy percent of Pastor Dmytro’s congregation is from eastern Ukraine, many of them escaping ongoing violence there.
“My heart right now is with my relatives I left behind in Donetsk: My mom, my sister and my grandmother, but they cannot leave this territory and it breaks me,” says Kateryna Skudan, who escaped from Donetsk.
With weekend talks between President Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin failing to calm growing tension, the White House continues to warn of major military action.
Foreign embassies, including that of the United States, are moving staff to Lviv, near the Polish border.
And just as that’s happening, in a small upper room near Lviv’s city center, Christians from across Africa are praying for their host country, ready to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who may have to flee.
“As Christians and as people of God, it’s our job and our duty to pray for the whole world because the Lord wants peace,” says Timothy Adegbile, a Nigerian pastor from Christ Embassy Church.
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