Ukraine – The Sound of Hope

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, the three-year-long war has left Ukrainians in a state of constant panic and disarray. Bombed buildings, exploded missiles, and citizens taken hostage, the long standing war has been festering long before the 2022 invasion. Many have fled, while many have stayed seeking to rebuild. I had the chance to speak to a Ukrainian missionary about living in a war-torn country, and if she is still able to see God in the midst of it all.

Sonya Yakovenko, was born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine. She has been ministering in an organization called Youth With a Mission Kyiv for about 20 years. Her work consists of teaching in a Bible school and training Bible school teachers. Since the invasion, the ministries have become much more humanitarian-focused, responding to the current needs of the country. Some of the different areas of ministry include creating food packages, assisting with evacuations to get people to safety, and visiting people on the front lines. One of their biggest ministries is building homes for people who have lost them due to war.

“So far we’ve built over 270 houses in the last couple years,” Sonya shared. Volunteers come in from all over the world. Alongside home building, their ministry runs a kids camp and provides counseling to get to know people, hear their stories, and connect them with a local church. When I asked Sonya what it’s like to live in a country during the war, she had this to say:

“Living in the war times is a little bit like living in a paradox.” Even if your current city is not attacked, somewhere else a city is being attacked. At any point, your normal life can be interrupted. “You can be in a store or having a class, then an air alert will go off which means everybody needs to stop what they’re doing and find themselves a shelter.” Cities must close: stores, public transportation, and cafes. Everyone must find a shelter and stay there until the alert is done and the all clear alert sounds. This can be fifteen minutes, seven hours, or even longer.

“There are cities that don’t exist anymore, like they have been fully destroyed. …In July, I think we had the biggest drone attack that ever happened in Ukraine.” These attacks mainly target civilians to keep people in fear and tiredness, “because you don’t sleep at night” while attacks are going on.

I asked Sonya why she would want to stay in Ukraine, surrounded by so much destruction. Sonya said she wanted to be a part of the answer, a source of hope for her country. The projects in the ministry “bring people hope” and “give people a second chance. It’s really pointing them to the eternal hope that we have in God. As bad as things are, God is still God.”

“You go out on the streets and see people who don’t even have a sparkle in their eye,” because so many people are struggling to survive. “Whether they lost their jobs or prices went up. …It especially affects the old people in less protected territories.” While there are people who will fight and stand strong, the burden can become very heavy to carry. 

“Our men can’t leave the country if they are 18-65 years old, unless they have special permission.” Men can be drafted randomly on the street if stopped and don’t have their correct documents.

“This summer we built a house for a lady,” whose village wasn’t occupied but was on a border where the army was coming in. This woman’s house was the only one in her village that was destroyed. She got injured, along with her husband, but her husband did not survive. The woman wanted to end her life but she couldn’t even do this because her house was so destroyed. She wanted to hang herself, but there was no place to even put the rope. Then, the team came in and built this woman a new home, and Sonya said the woman said to the team, ‘Well I didn’t have a reason to live, and now I do.’ Sonya began to choke up at this point. “Stories like that just give you kind of motivation and hope to keep going, and do it again.”

“There are a lot of stories of God’s protection over people,” stories of missiles not detonating, bombs not exploding, damage being minimal. There was a rocket aimed for civilian homes that landed in the only spot a home was not built, “Not only that but the rocket doesn’t even detonate… In moments like this you really see God’s protection.” 

I asked Sonya what we can do here as believers living far from the war. She encouraged us to keep Ukraine in the news, so that people do not forget the war that is going on. Sharing stories on social media is a good way to keep people’s eyes on the situation. She also encourages us to pray. 

As believers, our prayers are not just our empty words, but our way to call upon heaven’s armies to intervene on behalf of Ukraine. She encourages us to pray for the restoration of Ukraine and for hope. “It’s been too long, and the damage is huge, and we need to be restoring our country in the process of it being destroyed. It’s a strange statement, but we cannot wait for the war to be over to rebuild our homes, rebuild our roads, and rebuild our cities…” She also asks us to pray that professionals will come in to work as counselors, and for wisdom for government officials. “We are way smaller than our enemies…” And so Ukraine needs “supernatural protection of the Lord.” 

Whether you feel called to serve in Ukraine physically, or stand with Ukraine in spirit, there are many ways to serve and support Ukraine in different ministries worldwide. If you want to know more about Sonya’s ministry, you can visit the website ywamkiyv.org.

To hope is a decision many Ukrainians have to make each day. For Sonya, living in Ukraine during the war has helped to deepen her trust in God and give her a more genuine faith. “You learn to see good in every circumstance.” It has caused her to wrestle with the hard questions, such as “why do bad things happen to good people? And where is God in all of this?” Sometimes it’s hard asking the tough questions, but it strengthens our faith “and gives you a greater perspective of who God is. …you learn to trust Him despite what’s happening around you.”

“For me, my relationship with God gives me the hope that it can be better, and there is a brighter future… for our country; there is a restoration. And I think that’s what people who don’t have God don’t have.” Living in the war has helped Sonya to wrestle with difficult questions, “and still chose God in it.”

As family and loved ones wait for the day to live in peace without fear, there are people willing to go into the heat of the war with a call to rebuild and replant. They show others that love can look like a group of young people from across the world putting a woman’s home back together again, or a group of students kneeling down and professing the name of Jesus over Ukraine. In the midst of chaos there is a loud outcry that God is God even in the midst of war. He will not leave nor forsake us. In our darkest hour He is there and He is God.

What if this is the hope of the story?