By Laura McKillip Wood
As stories of atrocities committed on innocent civilians by Russian soldiers continue to emerge from Kyiv’s suburbs—including Bucha, Gostomel, and Irpin—people around the world are outraged. Baptist News Global reported that Vitaliy Vinogradov, dean of the Slavic Evangelical Seminary in Kyiv, was among those shot and killed in Bucha. His body was found in the street.
Ukrainians and westerners have mobilized to care for traumatized people leaving those cities. Sasha, a believer in western Ukraine who stayed to help with internally displaced people, is hearing stories of those from Kyiv’s suburbs. She tells of one family who recently made their way out of Gostomel.
“Their 9-year-old son is still afraid to go out and goes to bed fully dressed,” Sasha says. Still, his mom feels compelled to return to their hometown because “nobody needs us here.” They were helping people in Gostomel. Sasha says she is realizing that Christians in Ukraine need a “theology after Bucha.” They need to know how to understand God after all they have experienced.
Maia and her husband, minister with a church in Kyiv associated with International Partnership, an organization that links nondenominational churches across the former Soviet Union, stayed in their home with their family. They hid in the basement-turned-bomb shelter of their apartment building during bombings.
They had planned to run to Kyiv’s suburbs to stay with friends if Russia attacked; they thought that Kyiv would be targeted before its surrounding villages. When the Russian attack occurred, they were unable to leave. Now, they are glad they had to stay in their home since those suburbs protected Kyiv, but they grieve the losses of those who lived in the villages, and they are reaching out with humanitarian aid.
They have had requests for aid from people in villages surrounding the capital, but no outsiders are allowed into those towns because there are still land mines there. “We took food, diapers, baby food, [and] some other supplies to Baryshivka, a village that is the center of that region. Tomorrow people who are authorized to travel to liberated villages will deliver all those things to people in need.”
Russian forces reportedly looted homes and apartments, carrying things back to Russia or Belarus to sell or keep. Reports from residents of these suburban towns tell of Russians breaking into their homes and taking what they wanted. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, “Russian troops have opened a market in Belarus to sell goods that they stole from Ukrainians during the invasion.”
Radio Free Europe reported on a man in Mazyr, a city in Belarus, saying, “Russian troops were constantly trying to sell goods to locals.” Some of the looted items include appliances, jewelry, carpets, artwork, and dishes. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also reported a “column of trucks” filled with such items, along with industrial goods, was en route to the Russian border.
What does looting mean for Christians in America and around the world? It could mean that humanitarian aid should not include just food and medicine, but possibly also other basics of everyday life: refrigerators, stoves, dishes, electronics, and bedding.
“Today is nothing but tears and sadness,” says Lena, a Christian from Bucha. She fears many more stories of the horrors of Russian occupation will be coming out, since only a small portion of the occupied territories have been freed. She comforts herself with the fact that her family has no Russian ancestry: “It’s easier for me to think that, from what I know about my roots, there are no Russians,” she says.
Her words belie the depth of pain felt by many of her fellow Ukrainians as they deal with the trauma of the war and the loss of innocent lives.
Christians in America and other countries join to pray for the citizens of Ukraine. To contribute financially as well, click on one of these:
• Mulberry International provides relief to refugees through Ukrainian organizations on the ground.
• IDES (International Disaster Emergency Service) — be sure to designate your gift as “Ukraine relief.”
• Mountainview Christian Church is collecting money to send to Tavriski Christian Institute staff on the ground doing relief work.
• Proem Ministries is welcoming, sheltering, and feeding refugees from Ukraine as they arrive in Poland.
• Love for Ukrainians provides humanitarian aid and relief for those displaced and impacted by the war in Ukraine
Laura McKillip Wood, former missionary to Ukraine, lives in Papillion, Nebraska, and writes about missions for Christian Standard.
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