Thank you for your concern and for praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian People
Dear Friends of BIEM,
1. The Institute for Religious Freedom recently published statistics on how many churches have been destroyed in Ukraine during the war. They state. “At least 270 churches, religious buildings, spiritual educational institutions, and sacred sites (cemeteries, memorials, etc.) have been ruined as a result of Russian aggression against Ukraine.” The Ukrainian Orthodox church affiliated with the Moscow Patriarch had the largest losses with 108 churches destroyed. The second highest total was the Baptists with 43 churches destroyed, followed by the Pentecostals with 42 churches destroyed, 18 Orthodox churches of Ukraine, 17 Ukrainian Greek Catholic, 11 Seventh Day Adventist churches, 9 Jewish synagogues, 7 Muslim mosques, 6 Roman Catholic, 5 Evangelical, and 4 Mormon temples destroyed as of July 15.
2. Praise God, as of today none of the churches built by BIEM have been destroyed. When you consider that a good number of these churches are situated along the route the Russian army took towards Kyiv, this is remarkable. No doubt, the prayers of God's people have played a part in this matter. A bombing did blow out the doors and windows of one of our churches, but the building survived. Services continued despite the damage, and repairs were quickly made.
3. Brother Tim, one of our missionaries based in the United States, will soon be making his 11th aid trip to Ukraine for the purpose of distributing humanitarian aid. These trips involve purchasing food and other needed items in Poland and then driving them across the border into Ukraine. With God’s help, this one brother’s efforts (which are separate from BIEM’s other containers and distributions) have provided over 50 tons of aid to Ukrainian churches that are distributing these goods.
4. While most of the Buyko family is in the United States reporting to churches supporting our War Relief efforts, their 19-year-old son, Mikhail remains in Ukraine. He has been busy serving in the church and distributing aid. No doubt, it must be difficult to remain behind while the rest of your family is able to go abroad, so do pray for Mikhail. Following is a link to a video he made describing some of his humanitarian-aid efforts.
5. Not long ago, we posted a video about an aid-distribution trip Vitaly Bilyak took all the way to the battlefront in Donbas. In that video, the booming sounds of artillery fire gave evidence of how close he was to the fighting. Yesterday he and his brother Andrei returned from yet another trip to the battlefront. When they arrived in Bakhmut, the fighting was so close and intense that they had to make a quick getaway. Praise the Lord, they completed their mission and returned safely.
Sam Slobodian
President - BIEM