“Supporting Each other keeps us alive”

A family in Kherson region describes the sorrow of war coming to their village.

"Our whole village had been almost completely destroyed."

“It was once a flourishing, comfortable town, with cherry trees everywhere and welcoming, friendly people.” said Vyacheslav, who lives with his wife Olga and three children, two of whom are married.

Sadly, now, like so many towns and villages in the east of Ukraine, Posad-Pokrovskiy in Kherson region is in ruins. Everywhere you look, buildings are turned to rubble, office blocks are half-missing, chairs and tables still set up in rooms exposed to the sky, walls of homes torn away to reveal once cosy living rooms and bedrooms. And like many places, Posad-Pokrovskiy’s water supply, electricity, gas and communications infrastructure were destroyed by Russian troops before they abandoned the town. A tough winter lies ahead – with a warm, peaceful Christmas hard to even imagine.

“Everything started unexpectedly and fast,” said Vyacheslav, “At that moment we could never have imagined how much evil and trouble there would be. After several days of hell, we understood that this wasn’t going to stop and we escaped with our neighbours. All we took with us was our documents and what was on us.”  

As soon as Vyacheslav and Olga heard that Kherson region had partly liberated, they hurried back home.

Olga said, “It is impossible to describe the pain we felt when we saw what had happened here. We found the house, yard, and shed in ruins. One room of the house is relatively safe, so we’ll live there. We have nowhere else to go, so little by little and step by step, we will rebuild everything.”

Mission Without Borders (MWB) met Vyacheslav and Olga when we visited Kherson region in November shortly after parts of it were liberated, bringing 1,600 boxes filled with food, hygiene items and treats, warm clothing, blankets, pillows, bed linen, dried soup, roofing material, and Bibles for both children and adults.

“Thank God we are alive. We will overcome everything,” Olga said. “It’s so important to have support. This is what we all learned during nine months of war: supporting each other keeps us alive.”

Our photographer, Misha said, “The region continues to be terrorised by bombs and shelling, and so many people have returned to find their home in ruins – but they’re all eager to rebuild.

“So many people we met are still unbroken even after all they’ve been through. They believe in victory and they look forward to it. If the situation stabilises, even more people will return home.

“Please pray for peace in this region and that no more civilians would be killed and no more infrastructure destroyed. Our help is urgently needed in Kherson region as well as in other regions. There are people with almost nothing left, with no savings, in a country caught up in an exhausting war.

“There’s never been a harder time for Ukraine. We believe that MWB and other Christian organisations are the powerful tool of God’s mercy. Many people are discovering God’s mercy by receiving support from Christians. The whole nation is crying out to God and we believe that He purifies and tests our nation to bring salvation, revival, and blessing.”

 

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