The picture of the day is from Borodyanka (Kyiv region). Over 14,000 Ukrainians have volunteered to join restoration works in the liberated towns in Kyiv region.
50 days of war
Over 1,540 missiles launched at Ukraine
5,794 air raid alerts (an average of 118 alerts a day)
A total of over 700 hours (the equivalent of 30 days) that Ukrainians had to spend in bomb shelters
197 children killed (and 351 wounded)
A poem written by a teen saying goodbye to his piano
Dear Piano,
I’m Sorry, but this is my goodbye, at least for now.
I am really far away from you, at least for now.
I am starting to forget how to play that melody
that you like me to play, at least for now.
I am starting to forget this feeling
in my fingers to play you, at least for now,
but I will never forget the life that you gave me,
at least never in my life
Marie (Kyiv)
We all remember the girls of Mariupol.
The photos of pregnant girls in the bombed maternity ward. It became a symbol of this cruel war – a war that aims at destroying innocent lives before they even get to see the light of the day.
As helpless as we may feel in the face of this horror, there are things we can do. Our colleagues from YWAM Hainichen sent out a call for donations. People in Germany, moved by the fate of Ukrainian mothers, generously gave. Today, we were able to bless Kyiv’s maternity ward with seven cribs and two bathtubs for newborns.
The nurses shared with us that they receive many pregnant women from the hot spots in Kharkiv and Mariupol. They have lost everything and lack any basic feeling of safety. Their children are born in the midst of trauma and loss.
Please join my prayer today: God our Father, these are your children. Their lives are in your hand. Let each bed be a seed of hope. That not all is lost. There is hope. There is a future. Would they remember that every night they put their children to bed.
Amen.
Thank you for praying, thank you for giving…
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team