A man sits in his house that no longer has a roof or windows, worrying about how to prepare his home for winter ahead.

A brother and sister happily read the children’s Bible that Mission Without Borders gave them They live in Kherson region, an area that was occupied by Russian troops and relentlessly shelled, destroying critical infrastructure to leave residents without electricity, water supply or heating.

The hands of an elderly, disabled lady in the village of Luch in the Kherson region, a community that has been almost totally destroyed by bombs and rockets.

Eyes tightly shut, a bombed-out car the backdrop, a woman leans onto her cane and prays to the Lord, together with her neighbours.

A woman weeps outside her apartment block in the region of Kherson, unable to understand how such atrocities can be committed, and wondering how her community will recover from the tragedies it has suffered.

A classroom in a school in the Kherson region that was severely damaged by Russian air strikes. Across Ukraine 2,621 educational institutions have been damaged, and 424 have been totally destroyed. making it is impossible to resume classes in them.

Artem, 15, sits in the room that used to be his classroom in Kherson region. Around two-thirds of Ukraine's 5.7 million children are now displaced, and continual electricity blackouts and poverty affect children’s ability to access online classwork.

Ruslan, 14, is writing to words "Glory to Ukraine" on the chalk board of a destroyed school in Kherson region. For children affected by war, school is critical in providing them with a safe space and a sense of routine, as well as ensuring they don’t pay a lifelong price for missed education.

Locals in Kherson receiving hot tea made from volunteers. The hot drinks and meals were particularly welcome because the water supply, electricity, gas and communications infrastructure were destroyed by Russian troops before they abandoned the town.

This apartment block in Lyman, Kharkiv region, was severely damaged and burned, but people are still attempting to live in sections of it. There is no electricity, gas or water: residents cook outside with firewood and take water from stands, sleeping in makeshift beds in basements.

A sunset behind a scene of a house and yard, once someone’s cherished home, now totally destroyed. As one resident explained: “One bomb ruined everything I carefully gathered and built just to live a normal life. What should I do now?”

In this cold cellar in a family’s home in Krasne, the thin mattress under the bed is where a little girl plays and draws fairy tale pictures to distract herself from the bombs exploding close by.

Kateryna and Sasha’s father was killed by a missile in August 2022. Sasha’s mother explains, “Sometimes he acts as though his father is still here. He’ll sometimes ask the others to be quiet because father is sleeping.”

A Mission Without Borders summer camp held in Voloshky, Ukraine, provided some much needed fun for children whose parents are serving on the front line, in the army, police, fire service and rescue units. Some of their parents had already been killed.
Volodymyr, a pastor from Sarny, visited villages in the Chernihiv region, an area that came under heavy bombing in February and March 2022. Mission Without Borders works closely with church partners to offer support and distribute aid.

The man pictured here had his house in Yhaidne broken into and trashed by soldiers, after it had already been bombed. It’s been left in a terrible state, with most of his possessions destroyed or stolen.

When Oleksandr opens the door to his kitchen, it is a picture of utter destruction – broken glass, rubble, debris. He looks out the window at what was once a peaceful community, surrounded by farmland. Before the war, families from Kyiv would spend their summers here.

A woman sits outside while volunteers replace broken windows in an apartment block in Nova Basan, a village in Chernihiv region. She had returned home after the region was liberated to find everything in her home broken, destroyed, robbed, and contaminated.

Nadiya hugs and plays with her daughter – who has been traumatised by the war – at a day camp for refugee children and their mothers, organised by Mission Without Borders.

A freshly baked loaf of bread given out by volunteers near Kharkiv. After months of shelling, the town became a ghost town, with many of its buildings destroyed, its infrastructure wrecked and homes left without basic utilities.

Two older ladies in Lyman, eastern Ukraine, pose with food parcels they received from Mission Without Borders in October 2022. They are moved to tears by the way people from all over the world are helping Ukraine.

Ivan Bobyk, 38, holds his eight-year-old daughter Nelya on his lap. The Bobyk family live in a rural area of Sarny region and are enrolled on Mission Without Borders’ family sponsorship programme. The family of eight live in an old one-roomed house, with its toilet and bathroom outside. 

The war has caused a steep rise in deprivation in Ukraine – with half a million children now living in poverty. Here, six-year-old Davyd Bobyk helps his mother by preparing potatoes, singing a children’s song under his breath.

Three-year-old Denys Bobyk was the first to meet visitors at the gate of the house, with an open and curious gaze. He lives in poverty in a one-roomed house with his parents and seven siblings.

“It was a nightmare that went on and on,” Olha (pictured here) said, describing the Russian occupation of her village, “The day that the Russians fled, one of their tanks shot straight into our house. Thank God we were in the cellar.”

Olha is pictured inside her house in a village in Chernihiv region, where a single bulb lights up the dark interior. 80 per cent of houses have been damaged or destroyed in some towns and villages in Chernihiv region.

“Now I live in a penthouse,” Oleksandr said. After a month of shelling and airstrikes, his dry sense of humour and optimism is still intact, even as he shows his visitors how a mine destroyed the roof of his apartment and made his home a ruin

Near Kherson, a local man cycles home with an MWB Operation Christmas Love box. This was once a flourishing community of about 2,500 people, characterised by lots of cherry trees and a friendly welcome. Now, like so many towns and villages in this region, it lies in ruins.

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