Day 86 – Friday

May 20, 2022

Praise Reports

Success

• Russia Generals – The UK update said that Lieutenant General Serhiy Kisel, who commanded the elite 1st Guards Tank Army, was suspended for his failure to capture Kharkiv. It also said that Vice Admiral Igor Osipov, who commanded Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, was fired for the sinking of the cruiser Moskva in April. Given the sustained military losses and failure to take cities such as Mariupol in the timeframe expected, the MoD said “a culture of cover-ups and scapegoating is probably prevalent within the Russian military and security system”. That means officials involved in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were likely increasingly “distracted” by efforts to cover their own backs “to avoid personal culpability”.
• Negotiations – Russia’s foreign ministry said it will only consider opening access to Ukraine’s Black Sea ports if the removal of sanctions against Russia is also considered, the Interfax news agency reports.
• Food – US Sec Blinken today: “Every UN member state should press Russia to stop actions that are making the food crisis in Ukraine and round the globe worse than it already was

Truth Revealed

• Ukraine – A Ukrainian court granted a request to arrest former President Viktor F. Yanukovych over accusations he smuggled people out of the country when he fled to Russia in 2014, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said on Thursday. Mr. Yanukovych was ousted by street protesters over his pro-Russian stance and for scuttling a trade deal with the European Union. On Feb. 23, 2014, he boarded a Russian helicopter on the outskirts of the village of Urzuf in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, prosecutors say, and flew to Anapa in Russia’s Krasnodar region. He also smuggled at least 20 people out of Ukraine into Russia on Russian helicopters with the help of security officials and Russian contacts, they say.
• Russia – Atrocities – The U.S. has gathered intelligence that shows some Russian officials have become concerned that Russian forces in the ravaged port city of Mariupol are carrying out grievous abuses, a U.S official familiar with the findings said Wednesday. The Russian officials are concerned that the abuses will backfire and further inspire Mariupol residents to resist the Russian occupation. The U.S. official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the Russians, who were not identified, also feared that the abuses will undercut Russia’s claim that they’ve liberated the Russian-speaking city. The abuses include beating and electrocuting city officials and robbing homes, according to the intelligence finding.
• Ukraine – Atrocities – reports of horrific sexual assault on all ages continues to be uncovered and documented
• Russian Resistance – “Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, at least 12 cases of deliberate arson of military registration and enlistment offices  in Russia have been recorded. Only in the last week, there were 5 such cases: in Rostov Oblast, Ryazan Oblast, as well as in Volgograd and Omsk.”
• Legitimized Thievery – Russia is planning as series of moves to attempt to legitimize their seizure of Kherson, Melitopol, Mariupol, Donetsk, Lughansk and Enerhodar, in part through falsified referendums and also through staged support, such as where leaders of Russian-backed Donetsk and Lughansk governments met with North Korea’s envoy and most likely will receive their recognition
• Russia’s Plans – the Kremlin has declared that the plan is now to take all Ukrainian territory to the “historical borders” of the Donetsk & Lughansk regions and “demilitarize” nearby areas.

Support

• G7 – financial leaders have agreed on $18.4bn (£14.7bn) to help Ukraine and said they were ready to stand by Kyiv and “do more as needed”
• Italy – police said they froze assets worth 146 million euros ($153 million) owned by Superjet International, a joint venture between Russia’s Sukhoi and Leonardo, as the country chases businesses hit by EU sanctions against Moscow. The move targets Sukhoi’s 90% stake in the joint venture and other assets including five aircraft, Italy’s finance police said.
• Finland – Russia is turning of the LNG line Saturday as Finland has refused to pay in rubles
• Poland – is calling on the EU to help expand infrastructure to help export Ukrainian grain to the Middle East as a work-around to the Russian Black Sea blockade. Also the US is exploring a plan to run wheat through Belarus (?!) to Lithuanian port of Klaipeda.
• EU – The European Commission announced only the concept of “Rebuild Ukraine as a new tool for the reconstruction of Ukraine after the end of the war with Russia on May 18. It is just a concept because no one still knows the amount of aid and where these funds should be directed. According to the document, since “Russia’s aggression continues, the overall needs for the reconstruction of Ukraine are not yet known.” The European Commission only estimates that these needs will amount to hundreds of billions of euros, and it may take more than a decade to fully recover. The EU outlined how it plans to organize assistance to Ukraine and what steps it expects from Kyiv in response.

Pray Points – Latest

• Sumy – Russian troops shelled Esman, Sopych and Seredyna Buda in Sumy region using mortars and artillery, used drones for reconnaissance,
• Ruble – the Russian currency is surging to 7-year highs, that although artificial indicate that funds are flowing into Russia rapidly (as Europe attempts to refill stockpiles and India and other companies take advantage of discounted oil) meaning that Russia is being kept afloat.
• Mariupol – over 1700 soldiers including 80 severely wounded have left Azovstal but still a core remains with the leadership and claim to be planning a special operation. Soldiers have been registered by the Red Cross as POWs and transferred to Prison in Donetsk territory where the claim is that they will be tried by a tribunal.
• Lughansk – Russians attempting to cut Lysychansk – Bakhmut highway and isolate Luhansk region, – head of regional administration
• Eastern Donbas – massive shelling all along the southward flank indicating a determination to attempt a major ground attack today or tomorrow
• Zaporozhia/Kryvyi Rih/Kherson – Shelling continues as the Russians attempt to move forward and Russia has blocked all exit from these regions as people line up at the borders
• Missiles – due to the fact that Russian bombers were being taken out before they even reached Ukrainian airspace, now they are firing from Belarus and Crimean airspace
• Odessa – more missile attacks, but it sounds like they’ve all been intercepted.
• Sumy & Chernihiv – Shelling continues
• Mariupol – pray for the continued evacuation of the soldiers and civilians of Mariupol! But also pray that the agreement that Ukraine has reached with Russia will be honored for those soldiers and civilians to be released to Ukraine in exchange for Russian prisoners of war. As there is already tumbling against it with the speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin said that war criminals cannot be exchanged for prisoners, but should be brought to justice. Thus, he reacted to the proposal of the deputy Anatoly Wasserman to adopt a resolution banning the extradition of “Nazi criminals”, among which he named the fighters of the Azov regiment who surrendered in Mariupol.
• Kherson – Russia is stopping humanitarian aid from reaching hundreds of thousands of people in the region of Kherson, Ukraine said. Doctors could run out of medicine for chronically ill patients in two weeks, a Ukrainian official said.
• Sumy – Russian occupying forces fired artillery and mortars at the border settlements: Esman, Sopych and Seredyna-Buda.
• Slobozhanskyi– occupiers focused their efforts on maintaining occupied positions and preventing the Ukrainian forces from advancing into the temporarily occupied territory. In some areas they tried, unsuccessfully, to conduct counterattacks in order to restore lost positions.
• Kharkiv – Fighting continues in the areas of Ternov and Borshchiv. Occupiers are conducting enhanced aerial reconnaissance.
• Slovyansk – Russian occupying forces fired on civilian infrastructure in the areas of the settlements of Pryshyb, Hrushuvakha and Bohorodychne.
• Dontesk – in order to improve the tactical situation in some areas, Russian occupying forces intensified offensive and assault operations. The main focus of the Russians is on the Donetsk front, where they used aircraft, artillery and mortars.”
• Severnodonetsk – Russians carried out assault operations, suffered losses and retreated to previously occupied positions. Fighting continues in the area of the town of Toshkivka. The occupiers carried out offensive operations in the area of the village of Oleksandropil (until 2016 known as Rozivka) in the Yasynuvata district and tried to improve the tactical situation in the areas of the villages of Pylypchatyne, Druzhba and Trypillia. They do not succeed.
• Avdiivka -with the support of artillery, Russian occupying forces conducted assault operations in the area of Novobakhmutivka, but were unsuccessful, suffered losses and retreated.
• Kurahiv – Russian occupying forces, with the support of rocket artillery and heavy flamethrower systems, launched an offensive in the areas of the villages of Stepne, Slavne and Marinka, without success.
• Lyman – Russian occupying forces did not conduct any offensive operations, but fired on civilian infrastructure in the areas of Ozerne and Lyman.
• Additional Regions – The situation has not changed significantly on the Volyn and Polissya, Siversk and Pivdennyi Buh fronts, as well as in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.
• Wheat – prices soar 60% as India, the worlds second largest producer, blocks exports due to low harvest from heat wave
• NATO – Even as Finland finalizes its application to join along with swim clothes behind, Turkey has threatened to veto it
• Snake Island – Russia is spending a lot of resources to install anti-missile facilities and to protect paratroopers who are holding the island
• Severodonetsk – Russia has almost completely encircled the city with all water, electricity and cell service cut off Ukrainian soldiers blew up 2 railway bridges in the occupied territory of Luhansk Region
  The purpose of the bombing is to deter the Russian offensive on Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.
• Donetsk – Russia heavily shelled Donetsk Oblast using Grad missile systems and aircraft, killing six people and wounding another 12 over the last 24 hours, Ukraine’s National Police have reported.  Mariupol, Avdiivka, Toretsk, Lyman, Soledar, Zalizne, Bakhmut, Niu York, Dibrove, and Bakhmut were all under attack. The Russians fired at the region with the full range of weapons available to them, including aircraft, trying to kill Ukrainian army personnel and destroy Ukrainian army fortifications. In the Lyman, Bakhmut, and Kurakhiv areas, the enemy continues to advance, and hostilities continue. In the Avdiivka direction, the enemy retreated to previously occupied positions after suffering heavy losses
• Russian Navy – Russian Navy – All operating submarines of the Russian Black Sea Fleet went to sea from Sevastopol as seen by the fact that they are targeting military installations in Lviv
• Zaporozhia – Russian army shelling Huliaipole, and attempting to move forward with heavy fighting
• Kherson – with attacks on Mikolaiv and on the Kryvyi Rih front Russia is attempt to move to the north and west again with heavy fighting possible.
• Fuel – Russia continues to strike fuel refineries and stores (including in Lviv yesterday) destroying its Ukrainian production capacity and fuel tanks, continuing to create dangerously low availability of fuel, meaning much of Ukraine’s economy and food supply could be affected, but also the military and humanitarian aid distribution.
• EU – Hungary is holding up the oil embargo
• Food – pray for the world food supplies as Wheat make up 15% of all the worlds calories consumed. And much higher for impoverished countries. Ukraine produces 7% of the worlds wheat and Russia 11% meaning 3% of the entire food supply for the world is cut off, and again a much higher percentage for developing world. While corn makes up 19.5% of global calories and Ukraine produces 2.6% and Russia with 2.3% of world supplies, meaning a further decrease in 1% of the world calorie intake for a total between wheat and corn of 4%. A response to this is that “the Russian invasion is a large shock for agricultural commodity markets, but not historically large. Markets and trade patterns will adjust to absorb it. Farmers around the world will produce more and consumers will cut back or substitute. The transition may be difficult in some places, especially countries such as Egypt that typically rely on wheat from Russia and Ukraine who must be helped to find alternate suppliers
• Ukraine – Military – Defense Forces of Ukraine move to counteroffensive in Kharkiv and Izyum directions – Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine General Valery Zaluzhny
• Russian Military – trying to create panic among the Ukrainian civilian population and to disrupt the supply lines in the rear, but has minimum success on the battlefield.
• Mines – Almost half of the territory of Ukraine needs humanitarian demining – this is about 300,000 square kilometers, according to the State Emergency Service. Every day, an average of 2,000 to 6,000 explosive items are seized and rendered harmless in the country. One day of active hostilities is equal to 30 days of demining. For example, it will take about a year and a half to clear mines in the Kyiv region, where the fighting lasted a month. “Spring is coming, overgrown with grass, and in a week explosive devices cannot be installed visually, only devices. A few months later, due to rains, they sink underground to a depth of 3-5-7 centimeters, they are not visible at all, but they are still working,” the minister said. (As a sign of what supernatural resolutions can be possible, but during the Vietnam War, the United States strategically placed mines in North Vietnamese waters area that were set to detonate when a ship was in close proximity. In August 1972, a large number of these magnetic mines simultaneously started exploding. Upon investigation, the US found out that the cause of these explosions, which were estimated to be as many as 4,000, were not enemy ships. As it turned out, the culprit was a powerful historical series of solar storms with an extreme solar flare, solar particle events, and geomagnetic storm components hit the Earth.)
• Testing the West – multiple alternative narratives are being focus-grouped by politicians – Like assuming Russia taking half of Ukraine is a done deal. Or turning Ukraine into Cyprus – divided state with Chinese soldiers occupying
• Russia – Default – The Russian finance ministry announced it paid nearly $650 million it owed holders of two of its dollar bonds. Two creditors told Reuters they had not yet seen the money in their accounts, but a senior U.S. government official confirmed that the payments had been made and that the source appeared to be outside the limits of the current sanctions. The Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee, representing major global banks and asset managers, met on Friday and acknowledged the reports of Russia’s payments, but nonetheless made plans for a credit default swap auction next week “solely in order to prepare for the possibility of a Failure to Pay Credit Event.” If Friday’s announced payments clear, attention will shift to two events at the end of May:
  1. Transactions between U.S. persons and Russia’s finance ministry, central bank or national wealth fund are only allowed under a temporary license issued by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that will expire on May 25. The U.S. Treasury has not commented on whether that deadline will be extended.
  2. Russia faces coupon payments due on May 27 on a dollar bond issued in 2016 and an euro bond issued in 2021. The payment on the euro bond could be done in ruble as a last resort, but the dollar bond does not have that provision.
• Belarus – starting emergency military exercises today, claims it does not pose a threat to its neighbors.
• Narrative – probing attacks from many directions in the media and with politicians continue as they attempt to discover a way to distract, divide or dissuade support for Ukraine and for Russia’s total expulsion from Ukraine and for Russian government to be held accountable. Continue to pray for solidarity and truth and those in occupied territories who are suffering and/or have been deported will be heard and not forgotten or abandoned.
• Putin – Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to undergo cancer surgery and temporarily hand over power to a hardline former federal police chief, according to a new report. Putin will transfer control of Russia’s government to Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Russian federal police’s Security Council, while he is incapacitated during and after the procedure, according to a video from the mysterious Telegram channel “General SVR” on Saturday. Putin will transfer control of Russia’s government to Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Russian federal police’s Security Council, while he is incapacitated during and after the procedure, according to a video from the mysterious Telegram channel “General SVR” on Saturday. The channel — which is purportedly run by a former Russian Foreign Intelligence Service lieutenant general known by the pseudonym “Viktor Mikhailovich” — reported that Putin has been told by doctors that he must undergo an operation. The anticipated surgery and recovery are expected to incapacitate Putin for “a short time,” according to the unconfirmed report. “Putin is unlikely to agree to hand over power for a longer period of time,” the narrator of the video states, adding that the control of the country will likely be in Patrushev’s hands for no more than two to three days. “I will say that this is the worst option,” the narrator adds. “Patrushev is an outright villain. He is no better than Vladimir Putin. Moreover, he is a more cunning, and I would say, more insidious person than Vladimir Putin. If he comes to power, Russians’ problems will only multiply.” “Viktor Mikhailovich” ominously hinted that he and his allies “will make certain efforts so this does not happen, and I hope we will succeed.”
• Social Media – Russia’s online trolling operation is becoming increasingly decentralised and is gaining “incredible traction” on TikTok with misinformation aimed at sowing doubt over events in Ukraine, a US social media researcher has warned.
• PTSD – they are seeing that those fleeing the Russians are holding on for about 10 days and then face complete mental breakdown.
• 6 Russian Key Objectives to Pray Against
  1. Kharkiv – Destroy, Encircle, Capture
  2. Izyum – push south to encircle Donbas
  3. Slavyonsk and Kramatorsk – in the east to complete a smaller encirclement of the cities
  4. Mariupol – completely destroy all opposition and export the populations
  5. Zaporozhye – Russian troops are building up forces and building logistics a massive concerted attack
  6. Kherson – Russia is facing sabotage from the people but is still attempting to push north toward Kryvyi Rih and west toward Mykolaiv, then to Odessa and to Transnistria and eventually to Moldova.
• Izyum/Kherson/Zaporozhye – there is much evidence that Russia is desperately attempting to catch and conscript any and all able men in the occupied regions and force them to fight for them.
• Ukrainian Artillery – all of the defensive positions are using Soviet Era 152mm ammunition and NATO has been scrambling to provide Ukraine with all that it needs but they are running out. As the US is finally willing to send artillery (theirs is 155mm) it will still be months until it can reach the front lines and be used effectively.
• Deportations – Russia has deported over 500,000 people from Ukraine to Russia. 134,000 of those from Mariupol alone.
• Mercenaries – Continue to pray for all mercenaries to be neutralized in any way!
• Logistics – Russia logistical challenges are still problematic even though the supply lines to the Donbas are shorter, and much will depend on the condition of the roads and railways.
• Refugees – now 5.5 million have fled Ukraine. Pray for their safety, provision and care.
• West – pray that the pressure would continue to mount on western leaders to ban oil and gas imports and to continue to increase meaningful heavy arms donations.
• Russia – pray that the emotional need to make a huge statement and reaction to the sinking of Moskva will lead to Russia moving prematurely and without adequate preparation and coordination and thereby dooming their own assault. Or to make a move that so steels international resolve that it makes supporting Russia impossible even for China and India.
• Russian People – pray they understand the Truth and reject the lies they’ve been told and rise up
• US – pray that Lend/Lease gets fast-tracked and raise on the House floor and approved today
• China – has doubled down and the Russian propaganda and refused to admit the atrocities were committed by Russia or any other point

Pray Points – Continued

• Ukraine – Almost two-thirds of Ukrainian children have fled their homes, the UN says. About 4.8 million out of 7.5 million children had to leave their homes, said Manuel Fontaine from UNICEF. He confirmed the deaths of 142 children, but added that the number is “almost certainly higher”
• Economy – Ukraine economy to contract 45.1% this year, Russia 11.2%: World Bank
• Rage – Pray against rage as videos have come to the four about Ukrainian soldiers summarily executing Russian soldiers. Although they can obviously feel incredibly justified, this is destructive to them and provides ammunition to Russia their attempt to create an alternative narrative in Ukraine.
• Russian Military – Russia is sending an 8-mi long convoy of 100s of vehicles, including armored vehicles and artillery southbound through the Ukrainian town of Velykyi Burluk. The convoy is moving about 60 mi east of Ukraine’s 2nd-largest city of Kharkiv, as Russian focuses on Donbas. Russian Ministry of Defense claims destruction S-300 SAM at Chuhuiv airbase and Starobohdanovka in Mykolaiv region. Also claimed destruction of National Guard base in Zvonetske of Dnipropetrovsk region
• TRUTH – pray that an ever-increasing steady stream of the atrocities committed by the Russians will be revealed and documented to maintain the ever-increasing pressure on political leaders and parties to act with speed, vigor and determination.
• Russian Lies – pray that all their various alternative narratives would be revealed as rags and shadows for all to see.
• Evacuation & Panic – Ukraine has urged civilians to leave the east of the country “while the opportunity still exists” before a massive Russian military assault that it expects in the coming days. The governors of the Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk regions were calling on people to move immediately to safer areas. “It has to be done now, because later people will be under fire and face the threat of death. There is nothing they will be able to do about it.
• May 9 – Reports are that Putin needs the invasion successful in time for the Victory Day parades, thereby threatening great attacks over the coming month. Putin would want to have an “announceable success” by then, which could create “some tension” with Russian commanders as exhausted forces were likely to be thrown into battle fairly soon in an attempt to gain ground in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv. This also is at the end of the 30-day default negotiation period (ending on May 5) meaning incredible pressure is on Russia to achieve victory by then.
• Europe/US – pray they will block all gas imports and provide truly meaningful military support.
• Oil – Pray that Europe would have the political will to do a complete embargo of Russian fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal, etc.)
• Occupied – Many villages completely cut off from all supplies and food and water!
• Global Food – there could be a global food crisis as Ukrainian farmers are being forced to limit what they plant due to the war. And also due to the fact that the main ways that they have a reaching global markets through the Black Sea is now blocked by Russia. Russia and Ukraine together produce 25% of all green in the world!
• Refugees – According to Polish border guards, more than 2.4 million people have fled Ukraine to Poland . However, supplies have dropped off and now the whole regions are struggling.
• For the Weak – Russia has flown more than 300 air sorties over Ukraine in the past 24 hours: senior U.S. defense official
• Russian Elites – to turn on one another and on Putin
• Russian Military – continuing to press in the north, but the real danger is that Russia seems to preparing for an all-out push in Donbas to encircle the Ukrainian army and to take the entire region and to create a united front against Ukraine.
• Russian Soldiers – pray for their physical, emotional and spiritual well-being and for them to have the courage to face the Truth and the opportunity to receive the Gospel which is the ONLY answer to the atrocities they’ve already committed.
• Russian Opposition – that those in the inner circle will see a way out and that Russian Opposition would be able to gather together in a meaningful way
• The Truth – In all things that the Truth would be painfully evident and unavoidable in all public discussion
• Ukrainian Army – Russia is attempting to encircle the Ukrainian Army in Donbas
• Russia – for the people to wake up to the Truth and rise up
• Putin’s Inner Circle – to fragment and turn on one another
• Protection of the Weak
• The West – to not grow numb to atrocities, but be compelled to action
  1. Sanctions – Loopholes would be closed and sanctions rendered effective
  2. Oil Embargo – That Europe would make the choice to stop immediately at the very least paying for gas & oil
  3. Heavy Weapons – provide planes, tanks, heavy artillery and high-altitude weapons

Prayer Strategies

• Corruption & Domination Falls
  • Russia, Belarus & Ukraine
  • The Former Soviet Union
  • China, India, UAE & Saudi Arabia
• Truth & Freedom prevail
• The Gospel is spreads like wildfire
  • From Ukraine
  • To Russia
  • To the whole world

Prayer Encouragement

“Each time, before you intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!”  — Andrew Murray