Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second largest city. The relentless shelling there is an continual threat to everyone within its borders. Late last month, 79-year-old Victor Gubarev, who only stepped out of his building to buy bread, was killed by a shell fragment that landed in front of his apartment block. Photos of his anguished daughter, who arrived at the scene moments later, went viral. 

Kharkiv is considered a strategic as well as an industrial prize, which helps to explain the intense vying for its control. However, getting a full picture of what is transpiring there and in other parts of eastern Ukraine has been difficult because the continual airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for journalists to move around.

What we do know is that our partners as well as the children and families trapped in Kharkiv and other eastern Ukrainian areas need our continued prayers! One of our partners sent an e-mail this week, letting us know that about 140 adults and children were evacuated from Kharkiv to a summer resort area outside the city, where it is considered safer. Our partner is providing classes for the children three times a week, as well as psychological and spiritual support for all those evacuated.

Please join us in prayer for

1. our partners and others providing for the needs of those in Kharkiv and eastern Ukraine. Ask the Lord to keep them safe, provide the resources they need, and give them the necessary stamina, health and rest to continue their work in very dangerous circumstances.

2. those in Kharkiv and other life-threatening areas of Ukraine to find the necessary shelter, food, water, and medical supplies that they need. Please also ask God to provide the means for children to continue their education.

3. those who need access to first-rate trauma care services that can assist them in processing the horrors of war they have experienced—physically, emotionally and spiritually. Praise God for those who have found such aid, like those who our partner (above) is helping.

4. children who have been recently orphaned in eastern Ukraine. Please ask the Lord to hold them close as they grieve; protect them from evil people; meet their physical, emotional and spiritual needs; and provide them with loving caregivers and forever families.

Thank you for your faithful intercession for these vulnerable ones who are in the midst of an extremely volatile and often heartbreaking situation.