UKRAINE NEWS...

UKRAINE IS UNDER ATTACK...BUT...BELIEVERS ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE 

DBEA is supporting one of our team members who live 50 miles south of Kyiv.  His name is Vitaliy Sobko.  He is the director of a Christian Camp near Cherkasy.  Vitaliy has formed a team to go into the bombed areas of Ukraine to evacuate people who have lost everything.  He has arranged for as many as 24 minibusses to go into the cities of Kharkiv, Luhansk, Kyiv, Poltava, Dnipro, Sumy, and many more to bring people to his camp and feed and clothe them and allow them to get warm and a night's sleep and then take them wherever they want to go, to the west, for safety.  

Vitaliy is a good friend and worked with our team.  I know him.  He loves the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He is someone who I know I can trust with the support we send to him.  I have confidence that he will use the support we send to directly help the people of Ukraine.  I also know that he will share the good news of Jesus with the refugees.

Below are pictures and stories of their work. 

The messages are from Vitaliy:   Vitaliy (right) Stas

 

MAXIMUM FOR UKRAINE...December 28, 2022

In the last days of the year we continue to share the joy of Christmas with the kids.  Yesterday, today, and tomorrow the team is staging three more programs for different school and social groups.  For the kids who spent most of the year doing classes online, this is one of the few opportunities to meet their classmates.  Before the year ends we will complete 6 Christmas programs.

We are also getting 400 gifts ready for delivery to the villages around the liberated Kherson in the south.  Many thanks to many of you who helped arrange this!  

 

December 11-13 we hosted an annual conference for the leaders of the Wise Carpenter--an organization serving fatherless boys--mentoring them and teaching them to work with their hands and heads.  When Russia first attacked Ukraine in 2014, Vitaliy Andriets (director), his wife Sofia and their three children had to flee to Cherkasy.  Despite many challenges, Vitaliy launched the Wise Carpenter ministry that has now successfully grown into a network of clubs across the country.  This is one of those stories that helps to believe that good things will also come as a result of this war.  We just need to be patient!   

 

December 16, 2022

Friends, we are safe!  More than 70 rockets were shot at Ukraine by Russia today.  This is the third massive attack since Nov. 23 targeting Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure.  The electric supply has been off since the early morning.  In Zolo, our city, even emergency lines supplying the hospital are off.  Phone and internet connection are mediocre at best.  

Getting reports that thus far more than 50% of the energy structure of Ukraine is not damaged!  hoping that connectivity will be restored soon.  

Today, many things did not go as planned.  Today, we were on track to host our Christmas program for the first group of refugee children and those children who lost their parents.  Due to air alert, the program was delayed for several hours and then a bit more due to a power outage.  Our staff kicked in and did a fantastic job playing their roles and connecting with the children.  Ending a crazy day like this with smiles on children's faces and gifts is the best!

 

 

[May 21, 2022, at 3:55 PM]
This is Dima Lysychonok. Our volunteer driver and a good friend from Hust town in Western Ukraine. Since the war started, Dima travels 1000 kilometers to serve as a driver and chaplain. He spends crazy hours driving, unloading boxes, and serving people in war-affected areas. He takes only a few short breaks to travel back home to rest and see his family and little children.

      

[May 21, 2022, at 3:30 PM]
Thanks to loyal weekly support for medications, in addition to the food boxes we are able to deliver essential meds. The teams are doing an excellent job identifying families with great needs. Unfortunately, there is always not enough for everyone.  

      

   

 

In Kharkiv Region, we focus on helping people in the recently liberated territories.  I marked them on this map of Kharkiv with red.  Just miles away from the enemy lines!

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The following is a letter sent to me today from the leaders of the Ukrainian Baptist Union in Kyiv and L'viv.  This will give updates on the war in Ukraine that the Russian military is imposing on the people of Ukraine:

1. Every day we gather news for you to the sounds of air raid sirens.  

Each such siren can end in rocket a0acks. During the Baptist office in
Lviv, at least 10 rockets flew into the city.  The Bap6st Union Coordina6on Center con6nues to receive and send aid across Ukraine. During the 76 days of the war, the humanitarian storage in Lviv received and sent more than 127 twenty-ton trucks. At least 320 vehicles were sent from the storage.

2. Even shelling does not stop the work of volunteers.  

These days, Roman and his team in Lysychansk came under enemy fire
and were forced to hide under the supports of the railway bridge. God saved their lives, and they con6nue to serve those who still remain in
Luhansk.  Lysychansk, like all other unconquered territories of the Luhansk region, has been at the epicenter of enemy shelling for several weeks.  Another 60,000 people remain in the free Luhansk region. They need the delivery of humanitarian goods with delivery to bomb shelters.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, a team of volunteers from the local Grace Church, led by Roman Kozodoi, has been serving those affected by the bombing and humanitarian crisis: taking out refugees, bringing medicine and food, and visiting basements.
   "One of the last evacuations was very difficult," says Roman Kozodoy. –
   An elderly woman with a fracture of the femoral neck can neither walk
   nor sit. Due to the fact that she could not cope or find volunteers, she
   made two suicide attempts. We managed to take her to the Dnipro and
   hand her over to the people who will take care of her".
   Communica6ons in the Luhansk region were completely destroyed as a
   result of hostilites. Under the current condi6ons, both the electricity and
   water supply in Lysychansk will not be restored. That is why people here
   are in extremely difficult condi6ons for survival.

3. Gifts for children – a special load in unoccupied villages

The village of Bilka, Okhtyrka district, Sumy region, survived the Russian occupation in February and March. After back down, the occupiers left a
lot of stretch marks here, mined parks areas, administra6ve facilities, cemeteries, and planta6ons. Humanitarian aid here is organized twice a month by Light of Salvation and Hope Poltava churches.
There are 220 children in the village. Therefore, among the systemic help, volunteers should keep in mind a special burden – gifts for
children. Sweets, cookies, stationery, and creative items – any of this will add a little joy and warmth to the younger generation of Ukrainians.

4. Fewer and fewer people want to be evacuated

Church from village Horodyshche constantly preparing and collec6ng all kinds of help in hot spots. Brothers from this church have been visiting
Gulyaypole city, in the Zaporizhia region, and Kramatorsk city in the Donetsk region.
But during the last two days, the occupying forces have been mercilessly shelling these cities.  

The brothers say that the people who stayed there do not want to be evacuated; they say they are afraid to go into the unknown.
They name the reason: they have no money and no acquaintances to whom they would dare to move.  The brothers say that a baby
was recently born in the basement and now lives with his mother in the basement.  The child is simply wrapped in a sheet, without baby’s clothes.
Volunteers say that at first, they gave help in the amount of one package of 50 cm by 50 cm, and then one thing at a time for everyone to have enough.
Ivan Chernyak, a volunteer from Horodyshche, says: “God would allow those people to accept Christ! So that they don't just accept help. And they came to God and received salva6on from Him. One day brother who organized a church there wrote an ad:
   "Whoever wants to come to glorify God, come on
   Sunday". 200 people came. and 9 of them repented!

5. In addition to serving the settlers, the church does not let other needy people out of sight

The Church of the Resurrec6on from the city of Chernomorsk, Odessa the region, like many other churches of the fraternity, is working hard for
the twelfth week of the war. Yes, it is true that the war gave us new types of ministry, – says the pastor of the church Vyacheslav Shcherbakov. But we did not leave our "peaceful" areas of work.  We are talking about the rehabilita6on service of drug addicts, for example. The church has men's and women's rehabilita6on centers, where we help our wards change their lives through faith in and support for the Lord. We study the Bible with them, pray, and volunteer together.
And we continue to serve the 25 blind people in our city: we help to clean the apartments, make purchases in the shop, and cook. We also
pray together and read the Bible to them.

 

 

 

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[Apr 27, 2022, at 3:52 PM]
For over a month now we faithfully receive funds to buy necessary medicines and deliver it to people in difficult conditions in various war-affected oblasts. Some of these small boxes are very expensive and hard to get. Being able to buy and deliver it to them in some cases was lifesaving. The longer the war lasts, the more difficult the humanitarian situation gets. The need is only getting bigger but our ability to provide for these needs is not keeping the pace.

    

 

[Apr 27, 2022, at 4:45 PM]
Volodymyr, an Orthodox priest from our team visited a group of reservists on Easter (showing faces is allowed). He was able to talk to many in-person and pray for them.  

  

 

[Apr 27, 2022, at 5:24 PM]
Delivered shoes and clothes to a refugee center in Kaniv.  

  ​​​​​​

 

  

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[Apr 21, 2022 at 3:47 PM]
Another story of war from Kovalenko family from Kurahovo, Donetsk oblast. Last week they found a new home and moved out of Camp Maximum to start a new chapter in life, still hoping to return home one day.  

   

 

[Apr 21, 2022 at 4:40 AM]
As if by a miracle, out team's delivery route was changed from Bucha/Irpin to a small village Nove Zalissya. There we met a heroic woman Lidiya. She was essentially left alone in a church after Russian killed many men. The evening before, she prayed to God and asked for help for her village. She did not know. We did not know. But God planned for us to meet! Through a series of events God guided our team to Lidiya. There we helped unload food and other supplies. Pray to God! He hears! He answers!

    

    

 

[Apr 23, 2022 at 2:50 PM]
This is pastor Sergiy Kononenko from Chuguyiv, Kharkiv oblast. For the last three weeks we deliver food to his church. Taking huge risks they make address deliveries of food to families in the area and villages. The front line and Russian troops are very near. Today, we delivered another van with food and a bulletproof vest to keep Sergiy safer.

  

 

[Apr 23, 2022 at 4:57 PM]
Cherkasy, one of the regional capitals of central Ukraine has a population of roughly 260 thousand people. According to different estimates about 86 thousand people relocated to Cherkasy fleeing war. Today, we visited the principal of school #33 of Cherkasy and delivered food, hygiene items, clothes and other essentials for 80+ people temporarily living in this school.

  

 

[Apr 23, 2022 at 5:01 PM]
Two more vans delivered to villages around Kyiv and to Kharkiv

  

 

[Apr 23, 2022 at 5:08 PM]
In prep for Easter celebration and wanting to encourage and help our residents bond better, Pastor Misha Vakhtomin launched a series of evening meetings for all present residents of Camp Maximum. Every evening at 7 we meet to pray for Ukraine and our loved ones. This is a quality time that we can spend with each other and entrust our worries to God. We have time of worship and converse on a select topic.

  

 

[Apr 23, 2022 at 5:14 PM]
While we try to help others our Zolotonosha community tries to serve our people. Former mayor of Zolotonosha Vitaliy Voitsehivsky (now an MP of Ukrainian Parliament) visited the camp to deliver Easter greetings to our residents.  (Easter was yesterday...one week later than in America)

   

   

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[Apr 13, 2022, at 4:16 AM]
Special delivery from Germany ����
Oxygen cylinders, specialized masks �� (high urgency in the context of most recent chemical attacks), uniforms, shoes, gloves ��. All gear is provided for State Emergency Service Unit. Some of the guys from the picture left for the East several days ago.  

  

 

[Apr 13, 2022, at 4:03 AM]
“The boys” who were shot at in Lugansk oblast are back at the camp. As we learn more about the situation, the “grad” rocket exploded nearby. Unfortunately, we also learned that one of the passengers was wounded. They have been treated and are safe now. The boys are on the way to the west to meet with their families for a little bit before they go back.  

    

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[Apr 10, 2022, at 3:24 PM]
Yesterday, we received another truck full of support from our friends in the UK ���� and Poland ����. A big THANK YOU �� to Ukraine Christian Ministries Trust and Basco2 firm from Poland. Going through the border may take days, but our team managed to do it in just several hours. Lots of food, meds, footwear, blankets, clothing, and other supplies are already being sorted and some of it is already in the destination points.

    

[Apr 10, 2022, at 3:38 PM]
Same day 4 tons were loaded into two vans and sent to one of the Churches in Chernigiv. The local Church will make deliveries to people in the villages in the nearby area. By now many of you have heard about the terrible things in Bucha and Irpin, but these villages were as badly affected. While Bucha appreciates worldwide attention and support, people in these villages receive very little help.  

[Apr 10, 2022, at 4:05 PM]
Another 5 tons were sent to Chernigiv today. Our camp visitors also volunteer to help with unloading and reloading. 

    

 

[Apr 10, 2022, at 4:19 PM]
There are several ways how we distribute support. Of course, feeding people in distressed places is our top priority and urgency. Yet, there is a growing need to help refugees as they try to settle in and restart life in our town and other places in central and western Ukraine. More and more often it is the case that people have no money at all, they have nothing at all! Therefore, we are working case by case to provide the help they need. In some cases these are food packages, in others, it is pillows, blankets, towels, and other things they need when they move into a place provided by the town officials. Many Churches have now become temporary hosting sites providing shelter and cooking free food. They also help with local food boxes distributions. We try to share food supplies with such churches and help with deliveries and customs clearance of packages �� for them.  

[Apr 10, 2022, at 4:33 PM]
I personally stay encouraged to do more when I see real people who we’ve been able to help. Today, one of our guests received a special gift from us - a motorized wheelchair!  

 

 

[Apr 10, 2022, at 4:29 PM]
By now many days start to look the same, as we deal with repetitive processes. Yet, to be able to process and distribute almost 40 tons per week, this has to be. What matters is that we send it asap to the people who need it the most. This is what matters! Starting tomorrow we will attempt to scale it up! ⬆️

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[Apr 10, 2022, at 2:52 PM]
We are told the second phase of the war has started - a fight for Donbas (two oblasts in the east occupied by Russia since 2014). Russians amassed thousands of tanks and manpower in an attempt to achieve some victory and avoid complete humiliation. Many military experts expect the scale of combat to be similar to that seen during WWII. The last 48 hours - this is a run ahead of time. A mandatory evacuation was declared in Donetsk and Lugansk oblast in an attempt to save as many people as possible and protect our people from atrocities possibly similar to those the world has found in Bucha and Iprin after the Russians retreated.
After the Russians destroyed the only railway evacuation route from the region, all of us had to refocus our efforts and send as many buses to the area as possible. The massive attack can start any moment now. In the meantime, all of us continue to work on route to take more and more people while we still can. In the last couple of days, more than 700+ people were evacuated by our team alone. Thousands were driven to safety with the common efforts of many Christian groups from all over Ukraine. 

   

[Apr 10, 2022, at 2:08 PM]
When Putin attacked Ukraine, he was intending to capture Kyiv in three days and wanted all Ukrainians to surrender. Putin badly miscalculated, forgetting that Ukrainians are a nation of warriors. We are the people who thought for our freedom and independence for centuries. Here is a modern-day picture of Ukrainian soldiers writing a nasty letter to Putin and his army of cowards. Different enemy, same story. We continue our fight to be free and live peacefully in our homeland.

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[Apr 8, 2022, at 5:33 AM]
Today, the train station in the city of Kramatorsk was bombed. About 30 were dead and more than 100 were wounded. People were waiting for the evacuation train. This was done intentionally to disrupt evacuation efforts. Thankfully no one from our team was hurt. This train station was one of our drop-off/pickup locations on the way from Severodonetsk to Dnipro.  The pictures show innocent people trying to escape for their lives! 

      

[Apr 8, 2022, at 5:35 AM]
This is what a normal day at one of the regional train stations in Lugansk oblast looks like.  Large crowds of people trying to go west for safety.

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[Apr 6, 2022, at 3:58 PM]
The situation in central Ukraine is peaceful, thankfully. Yet, again we are seeing thousands of people flee Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts in the east. We are expecting a massive Russian attack any day now.

[Apr 6, 2022, at 4:00 PM]
It was a terrible day for our drivers in Severodonetsk. In the morning, one of our buses had a collision ��.  

     

[Apr 6, 2022, at 4:03 PM]
Later in the day, when other buses arrived to the assembly point, massive shelling started������  

     

[Apr 6, 2022, at 4:20 PM]
Praise God no one was hurt. One bus lost all of its glass windows. Another one was shot at with Kalashnikovs.  

[Apr 6, 2022, at 4:23 PM]
The situation is difficult and highly dangerous. The situation changes every hour. We are not even sure if more trips can be made tomorrow. Please pray for Misha, Ira, and Inna, our evacuation coordinators who operate long hours day and night responding to calls of people in desperation.  

[Apr 6, 2022, at 4:37 PM]
Those calls we will not to forget. Today a father called our call center. Together with his wife and daughter, they were on the way to the evacuation point when the shelling started. His wife was wounded. He called begging for someone to come and evacuate them.  

[Apr 6, 2022, at 4:40 PM]
Another call from a grandma in her 80s. She was checking if the bus arrived and if it is time to come out when their building was attacked. In her speech, Ira could hear explosions and how this lady was breathing heavily trying to hide.  

[Apr 6, 2022, at 4:41 PM]
Now the team at the camp is out waiting for the fourth bus arriving with people from the east.

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[Apr 5, 2022, at 4:31 PM]
A truckload of food and other necessities was sent to Ivankiv yesterday. You have probably heard about Bucha and Irpin and the mass killings of civilians there. Ivankiv, is one of the places to the North, just 50 km from the Belorussian border. 

       

 

[Apr 5, 2022, at 4:35 PM]
Also received reports from several Churches in Kharkiv and Mykolayiv oblast, that recently received supplies of food and medicines from us. After 40 days, people have no money, no sources of income, and for many such supplies are the only hope at the moment. Look closely at the faces of people who have lost so much but are happy to receive life-saving help.  Notice the baby.  He represents babies and children all over Ukraine. 

                           

  

 

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 [Apr 5, 2022, at 4:25 PM]
The team continued evacuation and humanitarian aid deliveries. Right now, the full evacuation was announced in Severodonetsk and other cities in Lugansk oblast. Heavy shelling there is ongoing. Presently, we have four of our buses and another 5 of our friends working on evacuation from the area. They help evacuate over 100 people daily.

   

 

[Apr 5, 2022, at 4:26 PM]
Another group of people with disabilities was sent to Lviv   

 

 

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[Apr 3, 2022, at 4:41 PM]
Today, Russians intensified rocket attacks. A few rockets landed in Kremenchuk and near Poltava in central Ukraine. Air attack sirens went on many times throughout the day today. Yesterday, was very quiet. Russia was forced to retreat from Kyiv towards the Belorussian border, taking even more losses. Kyiv satellite towns of Irpin, Bucha, and Gostomel are now free! At the same time, fighting in the east - Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts and in the south have intensified. 

[Apr 3, 2022, at 4:35 PM]
For each visit, we take coffee and chocolates to give to everyone. We were able to bring cookies and toys for the kids of servicemen of the state emergency services. Schools and kindergartens are now closed, so mothers take them to work with them.  

      

   

[Apr 3, 2022, at 4:47 PM]
Malynivka is marked with a blue cross. Red - territories with Russian presence (red arrows depict the direction of their movement). Yellow - points of combat collisions with regular army or sabotage reconnaissance groups. Pink - point of rocket attacks and shelling.  

[Apr 3, 2022, at 4:57 PM]
Yesterday, our red cargo van fully loaded with medicine, food, and other supplies broke halfway to Chernihiv in the north. Chernihiv is the nearest city to Chernobyl.  Access to this heavily bombed city was blocked for the last several days. After receiving reports that the Ukrainian military successfully cleared the city, we were able to make this trip, using our other vans. When leaving, the Russians leave lots of mines and traps and they continue to shell from the distance with artillery fire. Our guys were able to come from a safe route guided by police and military stationed in the area.  

              

      

[Apr 3, 2022, at 5:17 PM]
On Saturday another truck loaded with humanitarian aid arrived. In the next couple of days, we need to sort it by categories and form it into smaller loads to be sent to different destinations.

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[Mar 30, 2022, at 4:49 PM]
Breakthrough in medical and drug supplies. Our camp administrator Olga identified and signed supply contracts with three national drug chains and one supplier from the EU countries. We are now able to process medical drug requests and deliver medicines to the last mile. In the course of just last week, we delivered $20000 worth of medical items. With God’s provision hoping to repeat it in the weeks to come. The stock quickly runs out, so we are trying to accumulate reserves for the most critical items. So thankful to each one of you for making this possible! ��❤️����  

         

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[Mar 30, 2022 at 4:35 PM]
Pictures from our last evacuation trip to Chernigiv. The city is now surrounded and we are unable to continue evacuation without evacuation corridors.

           

Road signs have been removed by the Russian military so a destroyed van has become the new sign marking the way to Chernihiv...  

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[Mar 30, 2022, at 4:32 PM]
In just two days we delivered 35 tons (70000 pounds) of food and other essentials to Kharkiv and Sumy. 1 Fully loaded TIR truck and multiple cargo vans.  

         

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[Mar 30, 2022, at 4:12 PM]

   
Quick update from my family in Poland ���� My sisters Lianka and Alla, who live in the UK, came for a visit. So blessed to see the smiles of everyone and thankful that our extended family can support and encourage each other. A true moment of joy!

 

[Mar 30, 2022, at 4:16 PM]
Haven’t seen these beauties for more than a month now. Super hard to be away, yet I am really blessed to know they are safe.

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[Mar 28, 2022, at 5:02 PM]
After meeting our new friends from District 5 in Paris, we were able to visit Samaritan’s Purse Ukraine headquarters in Lviv.  

      

[Mar 28, 2022 at 5:06 PM]
This is underground tier-3 hospital with about 100 doctors ready to operate and serve trauma patients. Also, a distribution center for humanitarian aid supplies is delivered from different parts of the world.  

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[Mar 28, 2022 at 7:11 PM]
A special guest joined us on the way back from Lviv. Billy Rutledge. A US chaplain and a pastor arrived in Ukraine from the very first days of war. Today, tomorrow and in the course of next weeks we will be visiting and serving Ukrainian military men and women.

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 [Mar 28, 2022, at 6:34 PM]
This got sent in from our drivers in Severodonetsk in the east. Something big just landed on this apartment building. Overall, Russia changed its strategy and essentially recognized the loss of its efforts to capture the capital Kyiv and the cities of Kharkiv, Sumy, and others. Now they focus their efforts on Lugansk and Donetsk oblasts in the east and territories with access to the Black sea.  

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[Mar 28, 2022, at 6:17 PM]
While we traveled to the west, the team continued to deliver food and other aid items to Kharkiv, Chernigiv, Kyiv, Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, and Zaporizhzhya.

         

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[Mar 25, 2022, at 3:30 AM]
Pavlo Tsarevsky, chief chaplain of Chaplain Academy of Ukraine, and I are headed to Lviv, Western Ukraine, to receive humanitarian aid from the consulate of Ukraine in Paris and the 5th district municipality. �������� Two TIR trucks loaded with medical supplies, equipment, and food.

            

      

[Mar 25, 2022, at 8:48 AM]
While we are away our buses are on the way to Chernigiv, a heavily shelled city north of Kyiv, to evacuate people. Buses had to drive through the field to get in. 

         

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While rescuing people from Mariupol, Ukraine...This note was found: 

 

Note from Mariupol. I will translate for you. 

To Dima (Last name)
Phone number: ****
from son of Anatoliy (Last name)
Building 5 apt.57
Tell Him:
Dima, mom was killed. 9 march 2022. She died fast. Later the home burned.

Dima, forgive me that I failed to save her. I buried mom near the kindergarten.
Drawing of the map where mom was buried below with markings (South, tree, etc)

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[Mar 19, 2022 at 4:58 PM]  

Real case from Mariupol. Request posted in our internal group. Wife Olga, daughter Alexandra (7), Elizabeth (6), son Ivan (10 months). Their husband was killed in the bombing of Mariupol. Olga was able to send a message from a stranger’s phone asking for evacuation. Things take a different perspective when you see real people when we plead to help us close the sky.

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Picking up people from Kharkiv and from the Luhansk Region in Eastern Ukraine where the bombing has been devastating...

This is what your support is actively doing right now to help save people from the Putin aggression!  

***Vitaliy sent to me this response when we went more support on Friday:  "The funds have arrived.  I don't know if I ever will be able to thank you enough.  Love you, brother!" 

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Message from Vitaliy...

Maidan 2014 was Putin's first real attempt to gain puppet control of Ukraine through then pro-Russian president Yanukovich and the Berkut spetznaz, and afterward, when Maidan ended, Putin took the opportunity to annex Crimea and begin the war in Donbas.
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What we see today in 2022 is a direct continuation and significant expansion on that attempt to control and eliminate the Ukrainian people, their spirit, and their freedom, and to annex more of their land. I can almost guarantee you, if we don’t stop Putin today, Georgia, Moldova and the Baltic states will be next.

It is very difficult to share stories we hear from our guests. Last night we picked up a family that spent the last 9 days in their basement. I saw a lot of people sitting and staring into a wall. They lost everything. Their homes completely destroyed. They are on the way and they don't even know where they are going. We bring them in, help them register, give them food, offer hygiene essentials, and show them a place to sleep. The least we can do is to make this process as easy and comfortable as possible. Many arrive with newborns, little children. Many come with cats and dogs. With twice the number of people than beds, imagine the smells and noises as people share rooms. It is hot, queues to the toilets, showers, food lines. People everyone. Babies and children cry. Grandmothers ask for medication, others can't find their sleeping places. After 1 a.m. when you think you are done with check-in and about to go to bed, two more buses of people arrive and the process repeats itself. At 6 a.m. people wake up and want to leave. Cooks arrive early to make breakfast, with 280 people our food reserves don't last. Need to go and buy eggs. Only two boxes are on sale and we don't know when new supplies will come in.

        SCENES TAKEN BY VITALIY'S TEAM

Today, one of our drivers called back to say he was ok. He is in Severodonetsk again to evacuate another group. Another 50 people in one day to Dnipro. When I asked how he was doing, he laughed. He was looking at his apartment building. His apartment was on fire after another night of heavy shelling. He laughed and said he does not have a home anymore.

 

In the morning we are sending off three groups to the west. 1) 24 people from Lugansk. 2) the second group of families with children with disabilities 3) socially vulnerable groups from Zolo and Cherkasy and also families of our warriors. We are keeping their backs so they can focus of defending the country! ������

 

Received about 4 tons of provision today. For now, unloaded it to our camp store. All of it will be loaded to our buses as the return to the evacuate more people.

      

 

Last two days the number of camp guests exceeded 200 people per night. We work hard to transit people as fast as we can, presently about 50 people are on the move from one point to another in a single day.

        

REALITIES OF EVACUATION
From the beginning of the war, the evacuation of people with disabilities was organized. First of all, we wanted to help families we know through the programs of Camp Maximum. But now we try to help anyone who asks for help. By now, we succeeded to help 4 groups of 17 people into a safe place across the border! Each group is a separate story.

SAD AND DIFFICULT
Yesterday, we brought one family of 5 to the campsite. A young mother with two small children (somewhere between 3 and 6 years old), a grandmother in her 70s in a wheelchair, fully paralyzed grandfather after a stroke.

The second family is a bedridden boy with cerebral palsy, a grandmother in a wheelchair, and a mother to look after them. Our drivers were able to take them down without an elevator and took them out in a cargo minibus. Out of Kharkiv. To Camp Maximum.
Just put yourself in the shoes of these people! And now imagine that you need to go somewhere, evacuate the entire family…

Tomorrow, after some rest, we planned to continue on the route to the western border. We even organized an individual transfer of two bedridden people to the border, but the host party in Germany can no longer accept people with disabilities!!!

The hosting side is overwhelmed, irritated by the whims and discontent of previous groups, physically and emotionally exhausted, do not have capacity to accept the entire flow of refugees, and does not have the resources to accompany these people. So, for tonight we are at FULL STOP. I don't know where to go next. We will be able to accept and care for each one of them at our campsite. We have enough strength and space for everyone and we will not leave our people behind.
     

 

   

If you can help and know organizations that can accept our people with disabilities from the other side of the border, please send me a message!  

Pray for our cook and her husband.  While they were at the camp feeding refugees their house was bombed Here are the pictures of their home and car.

     

 

A local group of animators visited the camp to entertain our children, presently housed at the camp. In between air strike alerts, this was a great day full of smiles! ❤️
 

               

 

[Mar 17, 2022, at 5:49 PM]
At the western border, we now have 3 AID COLLECTION CENTERS to receive and accumulate humanitarian aid across borders with the EU. When a 10 or 20-ton TIR truck is loaded, it is sent off two one of our AID WAREHOUSES in central Ukraine (Zolotonosha | Alexandria) for unloading and sorting. From here, smaller cargo vans and passenger buses take it to our AID DISTRIBUTION HUBS and then to AID RECIPIENT locations.

 

 

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"WINNING THE WORLD…ONE PERSON AT A TIME" has been the theme of the Don Betts Evangelistic Association from the beginning.  God has directed us to several nations to lead evangelistic crusades/celebrations.

UKRAINE…DBEA formed a crusade team with the Billy Graham Evangelistic team in Eastern Europe.  In 1998 the president of Ukraine, President Kuchma, asked for someone to lead celebrations throughout the country to celebrate the 2000 year birth of Jesus Christ.  Our team was selected to lead celebrations in the capital cities of Ukraine.  Football stadiums, arenas, public halls, a bicycle stadium and even a circus were the venues for leading citywide celebrations in nineteen of the twenty-five capitals in Ukraine. We continue to look to Ukraine for evangelistic events as the present government allows.

 

RUSSIA…POLAND…HUNGARY…ROMANIA…Each country has hosted crusades/celebrations during the past several years. 

LEBANON…JORDAN…EGYPT…Following 9/11 in America DBEA was asked to lead a citywide celebration in the Christian sector of Beirut, Lebanon.  During the next several years we led celebrations in Beirut each summer and a Youth Celebration in the winter.  After a meeting with the president of Lebanon we were offered the central city square for a citywide celebration. These celebrations led to celebrations in the countries of Jordan and Egypt. 

KENYA, AFRICA…During the past four years we have been working with believers and churches in Kenya to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and provide clean water for the people of Kenya.  For much of the country it is difficult to obtain clean water.  Many people are dying annually due to no clean water.  DBEA has been assisting in drilling wells for entire communities to have clean water.  These wells are operated by an evangelistic church in the community.  It is a great tool to share the Gospel with each person who comes for clean water.