With thousands of families internally displaced and over one million refugees leaving Ukraine, how are families, and especially children, coping? How can the church take action? We spoke to Ruslan Maliuta, who serves with OneHope and WEA and was global facilitator for World Without Orphans, one week after the beginning of the Russian army's attack on the country. Recorded: 4 March 2022.

“We need to repent for what we have done, first to God and then to the people of Ukraine”, pastors write in an open letter. Russian authorities impose new restrictions on freedom of speech.

In Russia, evangelical Christians are asking Vladimir Putin to seek a negotiation to “find a peaceful solution”.

Putin’s messianic pretensions as saviour of Russian civilisation have deep religious and historical roots. Yet our western secular world tends to filter out religion and pre-Enlightenment history as irrelevant.

Evangelicals in Kyiv call to trust in God and defend the country. Churches are offering shelter to refugees. Christian leaders in Moscow express their oposition to war. “Fear paralyses, prayer, trust in God, caring for your neighbor - gives strength”.

European Evangelical Alliance prays for “those who have the power to save lives”. Russian Evangelical Alliance asks Putin to choose “peacemaking initiatives”. Christian radio in Odessa expects to be shut down.

Putin sends troops into the Ukrainian territory after the Russian parliament recognises the ‘oblasts’ of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent territories. Europe responds with financial sanctions. Evangelicals pray for wisdom for the next days.

Trans World Radio has a national partner in Ukraine and a ministry affiliation in Russia. Extra attention is now paid to themes such as forgiveness, dealing with trials and helping others in need.

The team of New Life Christian radio remains on standby to quickly re-locate if Russia invades.

Artsakh has approached the Peace and Reconciliation Network of the WEA that will lead to extensive trainings in trauma therapy both on the territory of Artsakh as well as in Armenia.

As tensions grow in the area, evangelicals continue to “trust in God, who is always with us. And we believe that our people will not give up”, says a pastor in Kharkiv.

A documentary about FC Barcelona futsal player Leandro 'Esquerdinha': "The Lord has changed my mind: it wasn't just my dream since I was a child, God wanted something more from me".

A long-standing religious tension stretching back many centuries has contributed significantly to the current Russian build-up, largely lost on the western secularist mind.

In Ukraine, prayer gatherings multiply in the face of “stress and fear”. In Russia, evangelical leaders call for mediation.

In Fall of 2021 the Russian Defense Ministry officially invited the Russian Evangelical Alliance to provide Evangelical Pastors for military chaplaincy.

In the face of death, a desperate person can find life in Jesus Christ. That was the experience of the Russian writer Dostoevsky when he was condemned to death along with his fellow revolutionaries.

The trial against the Christian parliamentarian charged with “ethnic agitation” against homosexuals will start in January.

At least seven students and one teacher died and 6 children are in severe condition. President Putin has ordered to revise Russian gun regulations.

The Russian Evangelical Alliance calls to “restore the peaceful relations between the peoples of both countries”. Churches in Ukraine encouraged to “pray and fast for the peace in our land”.

Vitaly Vlasenko, a pastor in Moscow, analyses the situation of evangelicals in Russia. “I am not aware of pastors, bishops, or other Christian leaders who have participated in the protests”.

There have been over 700,000 deaths in Europe since the beginning of the pandemic. Strong measures against coronavirus remain in most of the countries.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has analysed the effects of blasphemy laws worldwide between 2014-18. 11% of the blasphemy-related incidents took place in Europe.

In her State of the (European) Union, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, unfolded an ambitious ‘post-COVID-19’ plan for Europe and beyond.

Most of them are members of Baptist and Pentecostal churches. They were fined for distributing literature on the street and for organising non-authorised religious gatherings.

“Only Russians and those who live permanently and legitimately on Russia can be active in religious groups", the bill recently presented in the Parliament states.