June 30, 2022

Praise Reports

Success

  • Snake Island – Russia on Thursday pulled back its forces from a strategically placed Black Sea island where they have faced relentless Ukrainian attacks. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it withdrew its forces from the Zmiyinyy (Snake) Island off Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa in what it described as a “goodwill gesture.” Ukraine’s military said the Russians fled the island in two speedboats following a barrage of Ukrainian artillery and missile strikes. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov insisted that the withdrawal was intended to demonstrate that “the Russian Federation wasn’t hampering the United Nations’ efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor for taking agricultural products from the territory of Ukraine.” Ukrainian commentary on the Russian withdrawal from the strategic Black Sea island is suggesting that the Russian statement it was a goodwill gesture is a cynical ploy to mask a defeat. Vitaliy Kim, governor of Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region, has just posted to Telegram a screenshot of the news about Snake Island, with the message “We look forward to a step of goodwill in Kherson in the near future.”
  • POWs– Ukrainian military intelligence said yesterday that it had secured the release of 144 of its soldiers, including 95 who defended the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, in the largest exchange of prisoners of war since Russia invaded.
  • Trans-Siberian – Russia’s Trans-Baikal Railway announced the news of the blockage of the Trans-Siberian Railway following a 14-car freight train derailed in the Amur Region. According to the official statement issued by Trans-Baikal Railway the derailing of the freight train caused  no casualties. “To eliminate the consequences of the derailment, recovery trains from Erofei Pavlovich, Skovorodino and Mogocha stations have been sent to the scene of the accident,” the statement said.

Truth Revealed

  • NATO – General Secretary Stoltenberg describes Vladimir Putin’s “brutal” war against Ukraine as “absolutely unacceptable” with ramifications over the entire world, saying, “It’s President Putin that should withdraw its forces and end this war immediately by stopping attacking a democratic sovereign nation and causing so much suffering in Ukraine.”
  • UK – foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said it is a “realistic” ambition to push Russian forces out of Ukraine entirely. Truss said, “We’ve seen the systematic rape of women. We’ve seen the attacking of civilians, including at the shopping centre this week. And what we need to make sure is not only are the Ukrainians successful in pushing Russia out of Ukraine, but also that people are held to account for these appalling crimes that have been committed. I’ve not met Vladimir Putin. I do not know the motivations for carrying out this appalling war. All I know is that we have to make it our absolute priority to stop this war, to push Vladimir Putin and the Russian troops out of Ukraine, otherwise we will live in a much less safe Europe.
  • Amnesty International – A theatre sheltering civilians destroyed in March in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol was likely hit by a Russian airstrike in a war crime, Amnesty International says. Oksana Pokalchuk, head of Amnesty’s Ukraine branch, said, “Until now, we were speaking about an alleged war crime. Now we can clearly say it was one, committed by the Russian armed forces. These explosions were caused by something really big: two 500km (1,100-pound) bombs” dropped from a plane, she added, dismissing Russian claims that the theatre was hit in a false-flag attack by the city’s Ukrainian defenders. The Amnesty team interviewed 52 survivors and first-hand witnesses, about half of whom were either in the theater or nearby. Using satellite imagery from that morning, they determined that the sky was consistently clear enough for any pilot to see the word “CHILDREN” written in giant Cyrillic letters in the building’s front and back. The 16 March airstrike devastated the building, collapsing its rear and side walls directly onto a field kitchen used as a community gathering space for food, water and scarce news about evacuations and the war.
  • Russian Disinformation – The group “Project” produced a publication that analyzed all the statements of the representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov since the beginning of the war and found inconsistencies in them, relating, in particular, to the sequence of the seizure of Ukrainian territories and the amount of Ukrainian equipment allegedly destroyed by Russia. As journalists noted, Konashenkov reported at least twice about taking control of 25 settlements. Four times it was reported about the capture of the city of Kremennaya, three times – about the capture of the settlements of Borovenki, Taramchuk and Novomayorskaya. Sometimes non-existent toponyms were also found in press releases – for example, “Pavlograd region” from a press release dated April 17. The Project also drew attention to the fact that the Russian Ministry of Defense during the war reported the destruction of 84 Bayraktars, which is about two dozen more than the officially known number of these drones in Ukraine. The number of allegedly destroyed armored vehicles (3800) significantly exceeds their number not only at the beginning of the war (according to Russian estimates, 2416), but also taking into account possible Western supplies during the conflict (about 700). The journalists also drew attention to the frequently encountered wording about “areas of accumulation of manpower and equipment” and “strongholds” of Ukrainian troops – in the first hundred days of the war, the Russian Federation reported the destruction of 39,000 such objects. The project does not know what exactly is meant by this term, but notes that the total number of destroyed equipment, according to press releases, is much less – 9715 units, and the number of dead Ukrainian military (obviously exaggerated) – 40 thousand people. Thus, for every “accumulation of manpower and equipment” and “stronghold” destroyed, according to the logic of the Ministry of Defense, there was an average of one dead serviceman and a quarter of a piece of equipment, the Project concludes.
  • Russian Plans – top U.S. intelligence officer, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wants to seize most of Ukraine, but his forces are so degraded by combat that they likely can only achieve incremental gains in the near term, outlining the current U.S. intelligence assessment of the more than four-month war, said that the consensus of U.S. spy agencies is that it will grind on “for an extended period of time.”
  • Israel – PM Naftali Bennett’s government has been dissolved due to the defection of Yamina MK Nir Orbach who claimed that the government was being held hostage by the Arab minority members of the coalition.
  • Russian Occupation – is setting conditions to annex areas of Kherson and Zaporizhia into the Russian Federation under the template of the pre-1917 “Tavriia Gubernia.”The Tavriia (or Tauride) Gubernia was a historical province of the Russian Empire.Under the Tavriia Gubernia scenario, the left bank of Kherson Oblast and part of Zaporizhia Oblast would be directly annexed to the Russian Federation, likely as a single unit. The Ukrainian Resistance Center stated that Russian authorities are preparing for a pseudo-referendum to set conditions for the annexation of the Tavriia Gubernia (as opposed to proxy “people‘s republics“). The Russians are also requiring Ukrainian citizens in southern Ukraine to open bank accounts with Russian state-owned Promsvyazbank. Head of Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast Administration Hennadiy Lahuta reported that Russian forces have locked down civilian traffic in northern Kherson Oblast and are not allowing anyone to enter or exit occupied territory, which may be an additional attempt to control the civilian population in preparation for annexation measures. prepare for such referenda, Russian authorities are escalating efforts to collect personal data of Ukrainian citizens living in occupied areas.[34] Collection of personal information advances Russian occupational objectives beyond preparing for referenda and will allow Russian authorities to consolidate administrative control of occupied areas prior to making political moves to integrate these areas directly into the Russian Federation.
  • Russian False Flag – Russian forces may be planning a false flag provocation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) to accuse Ukrainian authorities of mishandling nuclear facilities. Ukrainian nuclear operating enterprise Energoatom stated that Russian occupation authorities are planning to throw unsafe objects into the cooling system at the NPP in order to compromise the plant’s cooling mechanisms. Mayor of Enerhodar Dmytro Orlov added that Russian troops have been kidnapping and torturing employees of the NPP to coerce confessions that employees dropped weapons into the cooling systems to sabotage the plant and blame Ukrainian authorities for paying inadequate attention to the management of the NPP. Russian troops have previously demonstrated irresponsible and dangerous behavior in and around nuclear power plants, firing on nuclear facilities at the Zaporizhzhia NPP in early March and digging into radioactive soil in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone.

Support

  • US – Biden says the US will announce another $800+ million tranche of weapons to Ukraine “in the next few days,” including air defense systems, artillery, radars, and HIMARS ammunition
  • Indonesia – Italy’s Draghi says the Indonesian G20 presidency has ruled out presence of Putin at November group meeting. While Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, has spoken of his visit to Kyiv to meet Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, describing the visit as a “manifestation of the Indonesian people’s concern for the situation in Ukraine.”
  • Sweden – will send more anti-tank weapons and machine guns to Ukraine, Sweden’s defence ministry said on Thursday. The arms package, which also includes equipment for mine clearing, is valued at around £40m ($49m).
  • NATO – UK PM Johnson describes the summit as “highly successful” and says “virtually everyone” has agreed to give more to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia. The new 2022 NATO strategic concept document states “The Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine has shattered peace and gravely altered our security environment. Its brutal and unlawful invasion, repeated violations of international humanitarian law and heinous attacks and atrocities have caused unspeakable suffering and destruction.”
  • Sweden/Finland – Sweden and Finland are expected to formally sign the NATO accession protocol on Tuesday, Stoltenberg says. The presidents of both Nordic countries will take part in the process “but the reality” is that the decision has already been taken by NATO leaders yesterday at the summit, he says.

Pray Points – Latest

  • Lysychansk – Lughansk Governor Serhiy Haidai: “Fighting is going on all the time. The Russians are constantly on the offensive. There is no let-up. Absolutely everything is being shelled.” Ukrainian authorities said they were trying to evacuate residents from the city, the focus of Russia’s attacks where about 15,000 people remained under relentless shelling. Russian forces are trying to encircle the city as they try to capture the industrialised eastern Donbas region. Ukrainian forces will try to hold the line against Russian forces from the city of Lysychansk, buying time for the arrival of western weapons, said Luhansk’s governor, Serhiy Haidai. “They’ll achieve nothing in several days (in Lysychansk) like they’re saying (they will). The geography of (Lysychansk) is difficult. It’s very spread out. It has a private (residential) sector, there are nine-storey apartment blocks, it has drops, there are lowlands and there are rises.” He added: “Our task is to hold back the enemy as long as possible and to inflict maximum damage on them … As long as Russia’s army remains in one place, time is on our side. We will receive weapons from the west.” Haidai said western arm supplies were “helping” but are “far from the critical amount” needed.
  • Bakhmut – Russia maybe gearing up to try for this city as they continue to attempt to take and sever the E40 highway
  • Slovyansk – Russia keeps attempting to reach the city from multiple angles.
  • Kharkiv – Located 25 miles from the Russian border, Kharkiv has great strategic importance as the gateway to the east of Ukraine. Russia tried to conquer it during the first week of the war, sending columns of tanks and military police units towards the city. Apart from a short lull some three weeks ago, Russia’s relentless shelling of the city, coming mostly out of the Russian border town of Belgorod, never stopped, destroying more than 2,000 buildings and killing more than 900 civilians in the process, according to the regional governor, Oleh Synehubov. Over the last two weeks, the city has seen some of the heaviest bombardments since the start of the war, and there are fears among senior Ukrainian officials, as well as local military heads, that a renewed Russian offensive is looming. The Russians usually start with rocket attacks, then heavy artillery comes in, and then they move in with tanks and infantry. We see the first part already happening,” Andrey Mogyla, a Ukrainian soldier, said. Equally concerning, according to Mogyla, were the recent bits of intelligence from “western partners” that his team received, including satellite images that showed Russia massing new troops and military hardware on the frontlines near Kharkiv. According to Mogyla, about 100 army units, including 50 tanks and eight battalions, were moved there three weeks ago on the eastern side of Kharkiv near the Russian-occupied village of Shevchenkove.
  • Kherson – Russian military detained Kherson mayor Ihor Kolykhaev. Meanwhile Russian authorities continued to take measures to strengthen the economic integration of occupied areas into Russian systems on June 27. First Deputy Head of the Kherson Oblast Council Yury Sobolevskyi stated on June 26 that Russian authorities are opening the first branch of the Russian state-backed Promsvyazbank in Kherson Oblast. Sobolevskyi added that Russian authorities are distributing one-time 10,000-ruble payments to ”almost everyone” to foster economic reliance on the ruble economy. Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command additionally reported that Russian authorities in Kherson City are seizing banking institutions and issuing Russian salary cards to those working in enterprises that have been co-opted by Russian occupation authorities. Such actions are likely intended to force occupied areas to become increasingly reliant on the ruble, stimulating long term integration into the Russian economy.
  • Mikolaiv – Russian army launched 11 missiles at Mykolaiv overnight. Also Ochakiv was shelled. 3 dead, 6 wounded. 6 years old girl among dead, 3 month old baby among wounded in intensive care
  • Grain – As result of Russian shelling 10 hectares of wheat burnt in Kutsurub community of Mykolaiv region, and wheat warehouse destroyed in Pervomaisk community
  • UN – UN Security Council meets at Ukraine’s request over Russian bombing of the mall in Kremenchuk. Russian Ministry of Defense confirms missile strike in Kremenchuk yesterday, claims that it has targeted warehouses with western ammunition, and secondary explosions destroyed “not working mall”
  • Belarus – Ukrainian military intelligence reports Russian saboteur groups plan to blow up residential buildings in Mozyr city of Belarus to drag Belarus into war even as Belarusian Ministry of Defense continues “mobilization exercises” from June 22 to July 1 in Homiel region bordering Ukraine
  • Drones – Ukrainian forces have largely halted the use of Turkish Bayraktar drones, which were used to great effect earlier in the war, due to improvements in Russian air-defense capabilities. Ukrainian officials are reportedly increasingly concerned that US-provided Gray Eagle strike drones will also be shot down by reinforced Russian air defense over the Donbas.
  • Weapons – Pray for the German, French and Italian leaders today to bring to Kiev heavy weapons and not pressure to concede to Russian demands.
  • Mariupol – Mayor Vadim Boychenko, the administration said “more than 100,000 people who still remain in the city do not have access to drinking water. Currently, the occupiers provide it once a week.  Residents stand in line for 4-8 hours.  They are on the verge of death.  This is a humanitarian catastrophe.  Therefore, we must do everything possible to open a green corridor and save people,” the mayor said. He added that Russians and “collaborators” had also restricted residents’ access to food.  “At the same time, the city is left without gas, light and drainage system.” Now there is a major outbreak of cholera as the officials of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) continue to fail to provide the residents of Mariupol with basic social services or quality-of-life assurances. Advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol Petro Andryushchenko stated that DNR authorities are unable to provide water, humanitarian aid, or medical services to residents and that corruption amongst DNR collaborators is further complicating the situation. Head of the DNR Denis Pushilin stated that his priority is restoring the school system in Mariupol despite continual administrative failures to provide even the most basic food and water services.
  • Izyum/Slovyansk – Russian forces continued to prepare to advance on Slovyansk from southeast of Izyum and west of Lyman. Right now Ukrainian forces are likely conducting a counteroffensive northwest of Izyum intended to draw Russian forces away from offensive operations toward Slovyansk and disrupt Russian supply lines and are making minor gains.
  • Russian Navy – Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command additionally reported that Russian forces are restructuring their naval grouping to include more submarines, which is a likely response to successful Ukrainian attacks on Russian naval assets in the Black Sea.
  • Logistics – Ukrainian forces and aviation continued to strike Russian logistics and fortifications in occupied settlements along the Southern Axis, with localized fighting ongoing.
  • Zaporozhia – Russia is repositioning forces to reinforce the front here.
  • Navalny – on June 21, the Russian opposition leader has been moved secretly prison IK-2 in Pokrov, 100km to the northeast of Moscow without notifying any of his people or supporters of where he is being taken. Alexei Navalny said in May that he could be transferred to the maximum security colony IK-6 in Melehovo in the Vladimir region. “My sentence has not yet entered into force, but the prisoners from the strict regime colony Melehovo (another 150 km further to the east) write that they are equipping a “prison within a prison” for me,” Navalny said.
  • Casualties – Approximately 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia’s invasion of the country in February, according to a military adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He added that the daily numbers of Ukrainian casualties were around “200 to 300 die, no less.”
  • Donbas – Shelling continues incessantly
  • POWs – Occupation authorities in parts of Donetsk region of Ukraine sentenced POWs, Britons Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48 and citizen of Morocco Saadun Bragim to death. All three were charged under the articles of the Criminal Code of the DPR “Forcible seizure of power or forcible retention of power” and “Mercenary”. According to Alexander Nikulin , presiding in the court, the convicts pleaded guilty to all charges. They have a month to appeal the court’s decision. All three intend to appeal. One of the lawyers for the convicts, Pavel Kosovan, said that, most likely, foreigners would ask the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, for a pardon. UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has said the men are entitled to combatant immunity as prisoners of war. “The judgement against them is an egregious breach of the Geneva convention,” Truss said. “The UK continues to back Ukraine against Putin’s barbaric invasion.” In addition, two former US Marines from Alabama were captured near Kharkiv, Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 29, and the Kremlin has indicated they will treat them in the same way, as mercenaries.
  • People of the West – pray that they rise up against their governments and demand they back Ukraine with more than words and do NOT negotiate with Russia, giving Putin land for grain or a ceasefire, rather than a military tribunal for him and the other war criminals.
  • Ukrainian Prisoners of War – There are about 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, the Luhansk official Rodion Miroshnik has said.
  • Unity – there are movements beginning with Ukraine to begin to blame various people and parties for Ukraine’s situation, attempting to create division calling for various people to be charged with corruption, rather than waiting till after the war. Former president Petroshenko’s party in retaliation for the difficulties he’s had leaving the country to negotiate with the Lithuanians last week, has called for an investigation into why Zelensky and his party did not prepare better for the invasion.
  • Melitopol – there is a huge partisan movement among the people in this reason and they have taken out many railroad bridges and trains.
  • 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.
  • EU – Hungary continues to block a true oil embargo
  • IMF – The head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, has said the war in Ukrainehas darkened the outlook for the global economy and could result in recession for more vulnerable countries and predicted that 2022 would be a tough year and declined to rule out a global recession if conditions worsened markedly.
  • 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
  • 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. As they implement a ruble zone here it only increases the lack as people do not have rubles to purchase the need supplies.
  • NATO – Even as Finland and Sweden apply to join along, Turkey continues to veto it even as negotiations continue.
  • Snake Island – Russia is spending a lot of resources to install anti-missile facilities and to protect paratroopers who are holding the island
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Food – prices soar 60% as India, the world’s second largest producer, blocks exports due to low harvest from heat wave. 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. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has warned of “a hurricane of hunger” if Ukrainian grain is not exported. The world’s 41 least-developed nations import a third of their wheat from Ukraineand Russia. Soaring food prices have already driven inflation levels in Egypt to the highest level since mid-2019.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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
    • Kharkiv – Destroy, Encircle, Capture
    • Izyum – push south to encircle Donbas
    • Slavyonsk and Kramatorsk – in the east to complete a smaller encirclement of the cities
    • Mariupol – completely destroy all opposition and export the populations
    • Zaporozhye – Russian troops are building up forces and building logistics a massive concerted attack
    • 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.
  • Occupied Conscription – there is much evidence that Russia is desperately attempting to catch and conscript any and all able men in the occupied regions of Izyum, Kherson & Zaporozhye and force them to fight for them.
  • Deportations – Russia has deported over 750,000 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 6.5 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
    • Sanctions – Loopholes would be closed and sanctions rendered effective
    • Oil Embargo – That Europe would make the choice to stop immediately at the very least paying for gas & oil
    • 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