Targeted by Putin

On April 13, as many citizens were gathering for worship on Palm Sunday, Russia launched a missile strike at the northeastern city of Sumy, Ukraine, killing at least 34 people, including many on their way to church. At least one Baptist church experienced significant damage. A video of the disruption of morning services went viral across social media platforms.

The attack was condemned by leaders across the world, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who labeled the action by Russia “horrifying.” U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the brutal war crime “is a reminder of Putin’s depravity.” Gen. Keith Kellogg, appointed by President Trump as a special envoy for Ukraine, said the action “crosses any line of decency.” Prime ministers from England, France, and Canada also condemned the attack.

Russia’s Eastertide assault is tragically one more way in which the invading army has attacked Ukraine’s Christian population. In occupied territories, Russia often arrests evangelical pastors and allows only Russian Orthodox worship. Pastors are tortured, jailed, and often murdered. According to Defenders of Faith in Ukraine, 640 religious sites have been damaged and one-third of the damaged facilities have been evangelical churches.

Russian forces have worked to erase evangelical witness whenever they overtake towns and communities. According to Baptist pastor Yarislav Pyzh, 400 of Ukraine’s 2,300 Baptist churches have been destroyed by the Russians. Pyzh, a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, is the president of Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary in Lviv. Though the war has decimated his country, churches in Ukraine are actually seeing many turn to faith in Christ.

A new documentary, Faith Under Seige, recently released, highlights the ongoing struggles of the church in this war zone.

For many pastors and church leaders in Ukraine, the war between Russia and Ukraine, which began in 2022, is a war on Christian witness. Ukraine is often called “The Bible belt” of Eastern Europe, with hundreds of thousands of evangelicals, and it’s a hub for missionary activity and church planting around Europe.

The attacks on Christians in Ukraine should invite mourning and outrage by American Christians. While we enjoy religious liberty, our brothers and sisters are facing significant opposition to gospel ministry. We should speak up for their welfare even as the war continues to grind on.

Franklin Graham, whose organization Samaritan’s Purse has ongoing relief and ministry work in Ukraine, has spoken up, saying, “There are so many wonderful Christian pastors, congregations, teachers, and church workers there today, ministering to their communities in these times of extreme hardship and danger. They care deeply. They are fearless for the Gospel.”

Scripture tells us that God sees each and every Christian in every dark place where to live out the gospel is to invite danger. In His encounter with Saul on the road to Damascus, Jesus confronted the future Apostle, saying, “Saul, why do you persecute me?” For Christ, to attack one of His body is to attack Him. Whenever one part of the body of Christ suffers, the whole body suffers and mourns. So we should use our voices to speak up for Christians around the globe who suffer for Jesus’ name.

And we should pray for America’s leaders. President Trump and his foreign policy team is right to seek a just peace to end the bloodshed. The process has had fits and starts, where deals and agreements seem near, and where it seems peace is impossible. Yet Russia has yet to take the U.S. peace overtures very seriously, even violating fresh ceasefire agreements, bombing civilians, and attacking churches and hospitals. Vladmir Putin’s aims for European conquest don’t seem to be satiated yet. The White House has expressed increasing frustration with Putin and one wonders if Trump’s olive branches of peace will not last forever.

Meanwhile, across Ukraine, faithful Christians will continue to worship and do ministry, some in places where doing this work will bring persecution. We should pray for our brothers and sisters in peril. We should pray for peace. And we should pray that many will turn to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.