It is hard for us to imagine what it is like to have your city or village bombarded daily by Russian artillery and missiles, even when we see some scenes of this on television. In a recent update on the war that I received, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service reported that Russian forces had launched 200 missile and drone strikes in 11 days. Putin is attempting to break the resilience of millions of Ukrainians by destroying the power, water, and heating systems they need to survive the winter. Russia’s recent attacks have destroyed 40% of Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure.
This brutal destruction is not aimed at Ukrainian armed forces, but at innocent and vulnerable civilians. Many Ukrainians now refer to the Russians as “the Horde” – a reference to the Mongols who devastated Russia and many other countries beginning in the 13th century. Not only is Putin’s policy of massive bombing strikes against civilians designed to demoralize them and force them to submit to the Kremlin, it is also a perverse redevelopment strategy. Fiona Hill, a Russian specialist, has helped us understand that Putin’s goal is also to destroy what the Ukrainians have in terms of their communities, together with all their links to their past lives, thereby forcing them into a new life. The plan is for Russia to destroy Ukraine as a nation and then, out of the ashes, build a New Russia and turn its people into Russians. This is a hallmark of imperial conquest.
What is amazing to me about the Ukrainian people is their willingness to fight to the death to save their country from Russia’s aggression. Their courage on the front lines is matched on the home front by the incredible energy of volunteers who are rebuilding cities and towns as fast as the Russians destroy them. Ukrainians are not waiting for some new Marshall Plan to fund the reconstruction of their country; they are hard at work cleaning up the damage from the missile attacks and rebuilding their homes, apartment buildings, schools, and churches. There is an unmistakable optimism in the air that Ukraine will win this war, and volunteers are doing this work without asking for government funding, which they know is needed for the war effort.
A report from Irpin, a city near Kyiv where many religious organizations were based, describes how the city’s mayor began the rebuilding process by inviting residents to return. When he made a public request for architects, designers, and engineers to lend their service for free to rebuild the city, he was hoping for a response from perhaps a dozen people. 121 specialists responded to the call. The nation’s leaders know that rebuilding Ukraine, one of Europe’s largest countries by population and area, will probably take a generation to complete, but thousands of local and national officials and working teams of experts are currently hammering out blueprints to rebuild housing, roads, factories, communication towers, and water and sewage systems. They also know that efforts to make the Russians pay for the damages they inflicted may take many years because of all the legal and political obstacles they will face. They are not going to wait – they are at work!
Here is another example of what is happening in this country: the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary in Kyiv sustained considerable damage early in the war from Russian missiles that shattered windows, damaged the facades, and tore open parts of the roof. Over the last five months, all the debris inside and out has been removed, the roof replaced where needed, the water supply system restored, the heating system repaired, and new windows installed. This repair and reconstruction is also happening at other partner schools as they prepare to train the new generation of young Christian leaders for the future. If you are willing and able to support these schools, you can do so by sending donations to ScholarLeaders Ukrainian Relief Fund at scholarleaders.org/give.
Another remarkable educational institution is Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in Lviv, which I have visited twice. UCU is one of the most impressive religious higher education schools I have encountered during my 20 years at the Council for Christian College & Universities. The leadership of this school has talked with me about their desire that a similar evangelical institution in Ukraine be established that could partner with UCU in preparing young leaders who are grounded morally and who are committed to rebuilding their country and preserving its heritage of religious freedom. Support for UCU can be sent to Ukrainian Catholic University Foundation through their U.S.-based website.
Generously assisting Ukrainians at this critical time in their country’s history is not only doing justice for the vulnerable, widows, orphans, and refugees, as God specifically commands us to do, but is also an act of peacemaking, an act of shalom that supports human flourishing, which is what people of faith are also called to do.