Our city was hit today!
Russian airstrike kills 1, wounds 5 near Cherkasy. Two missiles hit an infrastructure facility, Cherkasy Oblast Governor Igor Taburets said on June 26.
Inna was teaching Sunday School at First Baptist Church, where many of you have attended if you have ever visited Hope Now in Ukraine. Located near the bridge, the church is a beautiful, 3 level traditional church complete with balcony and basement. The grounds are lovely and full of flowers at this time of year. While the 10:00 am church service upstairs was in full swing (interestingly enough, an American missionary was preaching), downstairs the Children’s Ministry team had their classes in their rooms and the children were busy finishing today’s craft activity. Inna and another teacher have 11 children in their class. At 11:28 am, a very loud explosion was heard and felt by everyone. Inna said, “We quickly gathered the children around us. They were silent and we immediately began to pray.” About 30 seconds later, a second explosion also shook the church building. “Two of the boy’s faces looked completely frozen and white with fear. These boys recently moved to Cherkasy where it was safe – they have already lived through many explosions in Kharkiv before moving here, and they thought it was happening all over again. When will the war end, they asked? They were so sad.”
A second explosion...
After the second explosion, all of the Sunday School classes moved into the corridors to pray together. Soon, however, the teachers decided to take the children’s minds off the situation and began to play games with the kids. Inna said, “The service upstairs just continued until noon as normal, except it sounded like a beehive with everyone softly praying out loud at once. As for me, it seems like I was shaking on the inside so much, that I had to lay down after the parents came to pick up their kids.” The Cherkasy kids didn’t seem to really understand what had happened. They have so far, been shielded from rocket strikes, missile explosions and shelling. However, there are thousands of people who fled to Cherkasy from many hot spots in Ukraine, and those refugees are already too familiar with the distinct sounds of various weapons of war. Unfortunately, 1 person was killed, and this makes the first causality in Cherkasy – several others were seriously injured. Please continue to pray for a shield of protection over our city, where so much good work is being done by sharing the Gospel and serving one another.
Boots on the Ground...
We did have some good news today – last week, we had a request for 6 pairs of army boots from 6 guys that became known to us. These soldiers’ previous boots had worn out so badly, that they were no longer able to keep them together and on their feet, and had resorted to wearing plastic sandals! Olga was able to source quality boots, and she managed to get them delivered to the soldiers! We are so grateful for the sacrifice these defenders of Ukraine are making. Please keep them in your prayers.
Most requested items - life savers...
We continue to collect, sort and pack medical supplies that we send to Ukraine. Some of this is sent directly to the front lines and to hot spots. Some medicines and other essentials are sent to areas that have been cut off, and residents are left with nothing in their towns to buy – and even their hospitals and doctors’ offices no longer have even the most basic supplies. The most requested items continue to be tourniquets, tactical first aid kits, and blood clotting gauze/powder. Inna said recently that her friends in hard-hit Kharkiv told her to please send more of these items – the average injured soldier there is using 7-8 tourniquets! They need more of everything. Oh Lord, please come soon.
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Meanwhile, just in the past year, Ukraine has suffered 124,500-131,000 total casualties, including 15,500-17,500 killed in action and 109,000-113,500 wounded in action, according to the document entitled "Russia/Ukraine - Assessed Combat Sustainability and Attrition." And not just on Monday, but on every day in Ukraine, people just like us remember and honor the loved ones who have died these past 457 days defending their country. With your help, Hope Now does whatever we can to help protect Ukrainian lives – civilians and soldiers alike.
