May 18, 2022

Praise Reports

Success

  • Russian Losses – About 28,300 Russian troops have been killed since troops invaded Ukraine on 24 February, according to Ukraine’s armed forces.
    In an update posted on its Facebook page, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Russia had lost 400 more personnel over the past day. In addition, it said Russia had also lost 1,251 tanks, 3,043 armoured vehicles, 586 artillery systems, 199 multiple launch rocket systems, 91 air defence systems, 202 warplanes and 13 warships and boats.
  • Mines – The State Emergency Service of Ukraine have issued their latest daily update saying that yesterday they neutralised 685 explosive devices on Ukrainian soil. They say that the total number of munitions dealt with since Russia’s latest invasion began on 24 February has reached 110,593 explosive devices.
  • Stary Saltov – there are strong indications that Ukrainian forces have managed to cross the Severnodonetsky River (but over 100 miles from where the Russians are trying to cross in the opposite direction) via a dam two miles south of the town which allows them to begin to move against the all-important supply line for Izyum and the northern Donbas flank as well as drive out entrenched Russian positions that continue to use MLRS Grad missiles on Kharkiv
  • Mariupol – 694 more soldiers left Azovstal plant in Mariupol – bringing the total to 959 of which 80 are seriously wounded
  • NATO – Finland, Sweden will submit NATO membership bids together on Wednesday: Swedish PM, and many countries have already said how they will welcome them, all except Turkey who has said they will never accept them.

Truth Revealed

  • Israel – Defense Minister Benny Gantz supports increasing Israeli non-lethal military aid to Ukraine. Israel says it has delivered 2,000 helmets and 500 protective vests for emergency and civilian use in Ukraine.l. Also…yesterday an alleged Russian-operated Syrian S-300 missile surface-to-air missile was fired at an Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter jet for the first time. If determined that the Russians were the ones behind the attack, it would mark a significant escalation between Israel and Russia, where diplomatic relations between the country had been strained due to being on opposing sides with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
  • UK – The UK’s foreign secretary Liz Truss has said the UK is open to the idea of an international criminal tribunal trying Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders over the war in Ukraine.
  • Russian Military – Russia’s forces are unlikely to be vanquished quickly even if no major new troop deployment materializes, setting the stage for the four-week-old Battle for the Donbas to grind on. It’s either going to be defeat with the current force posture, or mobilize. There is any middle ground. Analysts have said Russia’s invasion force was facing unsustainable troop and equipment losses, and that their window for a breakthrough was narrowing with Ukraine now bringing Western heavy artillery into the fray. “Time is definitely working against the Russians. They’re running out of equipment. They’re running out of particularly advanced missiles. And, of course, the Ukrainians are getting stronger almost every day.”
  • The Hague – The international criminal court on Tuesday sent a 42-member team to Ukraine to probe alleged war crimes since the Russian invasion in what it called the largest such deployment in its history.
  • US – The US will create a new unit to research, document and publicize alleged war crimes by Russia in Ukraine. The Conflict Observatory will “capture, analyze, and make widely available evidence of Russia-perpetrated war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine,” the US state department said.
  • Girkin – the defense minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic has called for the immediate televised torture of the Azovstal soldiers and summary execution and if they are returned to Ukraine it will be treason. He continues to criticize Putin more and more openly! But many in the middle levels of leadership of the military and FSB follow him and believe him. But he is an extreme fascist who wants Russia to be a completely militarized country similar to North Korea.
  • Kharkiv – the general in charge of Russian forces Stepanishchev is one who as a colonel in 2014 led his Lughansk Peoples Republic troop so poorly that it resulted in so many of their deaths that his only soldiers turned on him and shot him! Instead of suffering a setback in his career Putin gave him a medal and now he’s a general!
  • Lughansk – when Ukraine pushed Russian and Lughansk People’s Republic fighters back to the Russian border near Kharkiv, the Russia soldiers fled to Russia, but refused to let the LPR soldiers come into Russia, leaving them to the Ukrainians.
  • Russian TV – Russian defense columnist and former army colonel Mikhail Khodaryonok appeared on Russian state television on Monday and offered a stunningly honest assessment of his country’s performance in its months-long invasion of Ukraine. “The main deficiency of our military-political position is that we are in full geopolitical isolation, and however much we would hate to admit this, virtually the entire world is against us,” Khodaryonok said in a panel discussion on Russia’s state-owned television channel, Pervaya Canal. Khodaryonok also urged viewers to not accept the Russian state’s narrative about the war at face value. “First of all, I must say, we should not take information tranquilizers,” Khodaryonok tells the other guests on the panel, referring to reports about low morale in Ukraine’s army. “All of that, put mildly, is false.” Khodaryonok criticized the professionalism and logistical failures of the Russian military and said that “the main thing in our (military) business, it’s always to maintain a sense of military-political realism. If you go beyond it, then sooner or later, the reality of history will hit you so hard you’ll regret it,” he added to the stunned other guests, who occasionally interjected with Kremlin talking points and glared at him. Khodaryonok also addressed Russia’s response to Finland’s expected application to NATO. Last week, the long-neutral Scandinavian country signaled its readiness to join NATO amid Russia’s invasion. Russia’s foreign ministry said in response that the Kremlin “will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature, in order to stop the threats to its national security arising in this regard.” “Don’t saber-rattle,” Khodaryonok said in his appearance, referring to Russia’s threats to attack Finland. “Don’t engage with saber-rattling with missiles in Finland’s direction,” adding that it’s such a poor tactic that it’s almost “amusing.”

Pray Points – Latest

  • Eastern Donbas – massive shelling all along the southward flank indicating a determination to attempt a major ground attack today or tomorrow
  • Odessa – 2 more missile strikes at bridge over Dnistrovsky Lyman overnight
  • Sumy – Heavy battle near Seredyna-Buda in Sumy region, border breakthrough attempt by Russian troops. There are fires along border line as result of shelling
  • Lughansk – Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk, has posted to Telegram that there will be an evacuation train from Pokrovsk at 4.30pm this afternoon to carry people out of eastern Ukraine to Lviv, as attempts to provide routes across the country for those who wish to flee continue.
  • 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.
  • Severnodonetsk – Russian forces are slowly gaining ground in the area and pushing Ukrainian troops across the river unconfirmed reports that Russian forces captured Novoselivka and Drobysheve near Lyman.
  • 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.
  • Lviv – the missile strikes keep coming hitting a military base about 20 miles from the center of the city, with these coming from Russian planes in Belarusian airspace, though some of the missiles have been shot down
  • Chernihiv/Kiev – missile strike here 25/30 miles from the center of Kiev, terrorizing a populace that is trying to return
  • Odessa – Saboteurs arrested
  • 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
  • Mariupol – the Russians continue using phosphorus munitions as they continue the assault on Azovstal while at least 100 civilians and 500 wounded soldiers remain in inside and 2000 fighters. Meanwhile Putin does not consent to extraction of wounded soldiers from Azovstal despite multiple international organizations and third countries engaged by Ukraine. In the village of Olenivka in Donetsk Oblast, the Russian invaders are holding more than 3,000 Mariupol residents with pro-Ukrainian views in a “filtration” prison, Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, said in a Telegram statement.
  • Odessa – In the morning Russian bombers attacked and launching missiles at a tourist facility in Odesa Oblast. It was destroyed, as were nearby buildings, after which a fire broke out. Rescuers and an investigative task force are currently working at the scene. “The enemy continues to attack the damaged and non-functioning bridge across the Dniester estuary. But it is hitting civilians. So far we know two adults and a small child were seriously injured.”
  • 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
  • Izyum/Slovyansk – unable to surround Severnodonetsk, Russia is now focused on reaching Slovyansk from Izyum with heavy fighting there
  • 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.
  • Bryansk/Kursk – Russian army has strengthened its presence in the border areas of Bryansk and Kursk Oblast amid fears of possible Ukrainian attacks across the border. Additional Russian artillery elements were deployed to the Bryansk Oblast as well to strike Chernihiv and Sumy
  • US – $40 Billion aid package has been held up at least till next week
  • Fuel – Russia struck the Kremenchug oil refinery in central Ukraine, destroying its production capacity and fuel tanks, continuing to create fuel shortages
  • EU – Hungary is holding up the oil embargo
  • Donbas – Ukrainian forces continue to hold strong defensive positions
  • 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.
  • Russian Military – Russian forces have made gains in the area of Lyman and Velyka Novosilka, but the progress is relatively slow. Ukrainian troops continue its defensive war and prepare for possible Russian offensive operation towards Kryvyi Rih and Mykolaiv as troops continue to amass in The Kherson Region
  • Russia – Military – shelling of Kharkiv continues and intensified as well in eastern Donbas and but all is relatively quiet near Izyum and Kherson and on Zaporozhia front shelling has ceased but with no sign of the threatened ground offensive.
  • Fuel – with dangerously low availability of fuel, much of Ukraine’s economy and food supply could be affected, but also the military and humanitarian aid distribution.
  • PTSD – they are seeing that those fleeing the Russians are holding on for about 10 days and then face complete mental breakdown.
  • Russian Military – time is running out and so their attacks and tactics will become increasingly desparate as these are the true last roll of the die. Because on May 4th the financial default hits and true victory would give them means to negotiate.
  • 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 5.2 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.
  • Belarus – Secretary of security council of Belarus warns of provocations from Ukraine to get Belarus involved in the war
  • 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