KHARKIV, Ukraine – Russian forces are still targeting Ukrainians with almost daily drone attacks and glide bombs, striking cities and nearby villages, again and again. While hope is hard to find, one ministry here is bringing food and encouragement to the people who remain here in the Kharkiv region.
In a village outside Kupyansk, the food can wait. First, these villagers want to worship. The ministry, Hope for Ukraine, has brought food packages for the people here — mostly seniors getting by on pensions of about $120 a month. Still, the war is never far away.
“I’m not sure, but about 50-60 houses from 2022. And behind me you can see that this house is destroyed by two Banderols,” one resident described. “But in general, our school was attacked by about 12 or 13 Shaheds (drones) — three times in general. And now it’s destroyed, and our students, they are studying online; they have their lessons online.”
This close to the front lines, food distribution is almost non-existent. It’s very, very difficult and dangerous for them to bring food out here. And so Hope for Ukraine does that just about every week. They’re keeping these people alive, literally, by bringing them the supplies that they need to keep going.
Many of these people don’t have an option to leave, and so they’re going to stay here no matter what. And they have seen some really horrible things when they were under Russian occupation the first time, and they certainly don’t want it to happen again.
“I want you to pray for Ukraine in America,” another Kharkiv resident said. “I think that’s the main thing — that you came here, thank you for the humanitarian aid, but most of all, pray for Ukraine.”
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Heading south, the city of Izium still bears scars from 2022. Bullets and shrapnel marked nearly every building on this street, including the Baptist church.
Recently, a Russian bomb brought down a five-story apartment building as families sheltered in the basement, killing dozens of civilians. Many people here grew up speaking Russian.
Pastor Andre of the Union of Churches in Kharkiv said, “Putin is saying that they’re freeing Russian-language people. But we see the cities that are fully destroyed, and there are no people living there speaking Russian.”
Here in Izium, which was taken by the Russians in 2022 and then liberated by the Ukrainians later on that year, destruction is visible all around. But it’s what’s below ground that’s the most disturbing. Once Ukraine retook the area, they found more than 400 civilians who had been tortured and executed and dumped into mass graves.
This is a reminder of what Ukraine is up against, and this is the reason why Ukrainians say they can’t afford to quit, because they believe if they surrender to Russia, this will be their end, for everybody.
“I will tell you: even if I am hit here right now, I will be in heaven that same moment,” one resident told us.
In Kharkiv, just this week, Russian drones struck apartment buildings across the city and a passenger train on the line to Izium. Yet the war has also brought an unexpected revival to the region’s churches.
Bishop Elijah Yerasim, Bishop of Churches in the Kharkiv region, said, “Before the war I became responsible for the churches in the Kharkiv region, and we had 28 churches. Now we have 70 churches. Before the full-scale invasion, about 1,000 people attended the churches. Now, more than 7,000. …And when people lose hope in the authorities, in the army, in some external factors, they turn to God for help.”
To the north, Russian troops keep probing across the border. Ukrainian officials say they’ve advanced only two to three miles. For the people who remain, the drones keep coming — and so do the prayers.
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