Easter Under Siege

When you go to church Easter Sunday, be thankful a soldier did not block your way. Believers in Russian occupied Ukraine are not able to celebrate Christ's resurrection.

I have missed a month or so in my Substack postings because I am in the USA promoting our new documentary, A Faith Under Siege; Russia’s Hidden War on Ukraine’s Christians.

A Faith Under Siege lets Ukrainian Christians who have been tortured and oppressed by the Russians tell their own stories of the horrors they have endured for their faith.

Last fall, Anna Shvetsova and I took Colby Barrett and a film crew of a dozen or so on two 1500 mile road trips around the Ukrainian front interviewing Christians who had suffered in occupied Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin has shut down every church in occupied Ukraine that is not controlled by the Kremlin. Simply holding a Bible study in one’s home is a crime punishable by twenty years in prison, a horrible Russian prison.

Putin’s forces are targeting Ukraine’s protestants and evangelical Christians. The Russians have killed more than 47 faith leaders, almost half of whom were Baptist, Pentecostal or other evangelical pastors. Similarly, the Russian military has destroyed some 650 churches, a third of which are protestant churches.

Protestants and evangelicals only make up about 4% of Ukraine’s population.

Almost nobody is celebrating Easter in Russian-occupied Ukraine this year.

A Faith Under Siege tells stories like that of Viktor and Svitlana. Viktor was held and tortured by the Russians for 25 days, including one day when he was being tortured with an electrical taser while a Russian Orthodox priest tried to cast demons out of him for being an evangelical Christian. He would have died in prison had his wife Svitlana not miraculously found him and convinced the Russian commander to release him. Be sure to show your family this Easter Viktor and Svitlana’s six minute video.

Tell your family the story of Serhii Haidarzhy this Easter. He is one of the most Christlike people I have ever met. A devout Baptist, Serhii’s wife Anna and infant son Tymofii were killed by an Iranian-made drone fired into their apartment building by the Russians. After losing almost everything, Serhii has made this terrible loss mean something by telling their story in the USA and ministering to other men who have lost their families to the Russians. He harbors no hate toward the Russians that I can perceive. Make sure to watch his 5 1/2 minute video.

Russia is enduring a demographic decline. According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, birth rates are down 36% since 2014, and Russia has one of the highest ratios of abortions to live births in Europe. Some 1,264,350 babies were born in 2023, while 467,600 abortions were performed, for a ratio of 37 abortions for every 100 live births. For perspective, the rate in the US in 2022 was 19.9. One of the Putin’s reasons for invading Ukraine is to repopulate Russia with people they view to be Russian.

The Ukrainian government has identified 19,546 Ukrainian children who have been abducted by the Russian military. Russian officials say that 730,000 Ukrainian children have “arrived” in Russia since February 2022.

Nadiaa’s family barely escaped occupied Ukraine with the help of Save Ukraine just before the Russian occupiers took her oldest son from her. Save Ukraine is a Ukrainian NGO that has rescued the most children from occupied Ukraine and Russia, but they have only rescued hundreds. Show your family Nadiia’s 6 1/2 minute story after you eat Easter dinner.

Please make remembering Ukraine’s Christians part of your Easter celebration.