As Ukraine is approaching the third anniversary of the war, the Ukrainian nation is still going through a terrible ordeal, incurring numerous losses on a daily basis.
Only last year, the Russian army undertook more than a dozen combined mass missile and drone attacks against the critical infrastructure of Ukraine, in particular the power grid and power stations, trying to leave Ukrainians without electricity, heating, water and other utilities, not to mention daily drone attacks.
Considering the casualties both among the military and civilians caused by the severe fighting in the frontline as well as repeated missile and drone attacks on industrial and residential areas all over the country, damaged and destroyed infrastructure, deteriorated economic situation. unemployment rate, the number of Ukrainians who can’t afford food or other necessities is constantly on the rise.
These people include internally displaced persons, families who have lost their breadwinners, families with many children, unemployed, elderly, disabled, homeless and other vulnerable groups who are in drastic need of things that could help them go through the third harsh winter of the ongoing war.
Therefore, amid regular power outages and blackouts, the assistance in the form of firewood, fuel, blankets, pillows, power banks, charging stations, accumulators and other winterization items that we provide is a matter of survival for the people we are serving.
Following the pattern which proved to be rather successful a year ago, we still pursue two-faceted implementation of the Winterization Project. On the one hand, we continue our ministry to those in need from the seminary neighborhood and undertake regular relief and mission trips to the warzone.
On the other hand, in addition to the above mentioned ministry done by our team, we continue working through a number Christian churches, charities and organizations from different parts of Ukraine where UETS students and graduates also serve various war-affected people.
This approach enables us to expand our winterization ministry to reach out to more people with humanitarian assistance, emotional and spiritual support in different parts of Ukraine; and increase the number of ‘hands’ involved in helping those in need beyond physical capabilities of the seminary team and, therefore, become more time and energy efficient in the implementation of this project.
What is most important they all need to see the love of Christ which is revealed to them through feasible assistance and support provided by Christians. It is really encouraging to see that dozens of people in need have come to know the Lord as their Savior due to the ministry of UETS and its partners.
The following is just one of the testimonies we have recently received from our partner Victory church in Vinnytsia: “Two internally displaced women, Raisa and Viktoria, who are originally from the occupied Mariupol and Kostiantynivka, which is in close proximity to the frontline, started coming first for food products but eventually came to know the Lord and joined our church community. Today, they are active members of the church who are involved in the ministry to other internally displaced people.”
We are enormously grateful to God for this opportunity to continue serving our nation and also to our partners, in particular the Faith Ventures Foundation and Outreach Foundation, USA, who are standing with us in this relief ministry to our fellow citizens.