May 25, 2022

Praise Reports

  • Russia Economy – The Russian “economy is imploding. We forecast a GDP collapse of -30% by end-2022,” said Robin Brooks, chief economist at the Institute of International Finance trade group
  • Default – The Biden administration will ban Russia’s government from paying bondholders through American banks starting Wednesday morning, the Treasury Department said. The move increases the odds that Russia will default on its outstanding debt. It is the latest sanction against that country by the United States in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Biden administration since the invasion had granted a crucial exception to sanctions on Russia’s central bank, allowing that bank to process payments to bondholders through U.S. and international banks. Default will affect all of Russia immediately, because Russia government owes $60B and Russian businesses owe $400B. When a default takes effect all those creditors start running to courts around the world to attempt to seize Russian government and business assets in an attempt to get that money back.
  • Another Russian General – Retired Russian Air Force Major General Kanamat Botashev, 63, has become the 13th general to die in Ukrainian territory since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, according to a tally by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. (Russia’s Defense Ministry has confirmed only two, and U.S. officials have not given a specific number). He was reportedly shot down by Ukrainian forces over the Luhansk region on Sunday, becoming the highest-ranking air force commander to be killed in the war.
  • Russian Losses – as of today in Ukraine…
    • 29,450 Soldiers killed, wounded 88,350, prisoners 1,000 for a total 118,800 or 62.5% of the original 190,000 Russia brought to Ukraine in February and 13.2% of the total Russian army of 900,000.
    • 3213 Armored Personnel Carriers destroyed which is more than the original 2900 committed and 23% of the total army (13,576).
    • 1305 Tanks lost – more than the original 1200 from February & 39.5% of the army’s total 3,300.
    • 606 Artillery pieces lost (37.9% of the invasion force in February and 10.7% of the army’s total).
    • 206 Airplanes lost (62.4% of February’s invasion force and 14.9% of the entire air force).
    • 170 Helicopters (70.8% of the invasion force and 17.7% of army’s total).
    • 13 Ships lost or 17.3% of those intended for the invasion.

Truth Revealed

  • Philippines – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte — who once called Russian President Vladimir Putin his “idol” — has criticized him for killing civilians in Ukraine. “I kill criminals, I don’t kill children and the elderly,” Duterte said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Under his watch, Duterte has sanctioned the killings of thousands of his citizens as part of his so-called war on drugs, calling them criminals. With the comment, Duterte becomes the first of the world’s pro-Russia strongmen to publicly condemn Putin over his invasion of Ukraine, which entered its fourth month on Tuesday. Autocratic leaders with warm relations with Putin, such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, China’s Xi Jinping, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un have so far kept mostly silent, choosing to stay neutral or back Russia in the conflict. Duterte also said Tuesday that Russia was lying by labeling the invasion a “special military operation” — as Putin and Russian state-run media have asserted since day one — and that it is clearly a war against “a sovereign nation,” the AP reported.
  • Putin’s Future – The former head of Britain’s MI6 spy agency, Richard Dearlove, said on Tuesday that Vladimir Putin is losing his grip on power and will not stay on as Russia’s president next year, as Russian forces launch an all-out assault to encircle Ukrainian troops in a battle that could determine the fate of Ukraine’s east. “I’m really going to stick my neck out. I think he’ll be gone by 2023, but probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of Russia.”
  • Russian Supplies – As a sign of how depleted Russian store houses of military equipment are a whole collection of mothballed T 62 tanks which haven’t been produced since 1975 or were seen being sent to the front.
  • Food – Several high-level global officials criticized Russia on Tuesday morning for its role in the worsening international food crisis sparked by its invasion of Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters whose ports remain blocked by Russian forces, a move the United Nations says could cause millions to die. David Beasley, head of the United Nations World Food Program, called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to “have a heart” and unblock ports to prevent unnecessary deaths. Earlier Tuesday in Davos, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union’s European Commission, accused Russia of using “hunger and grain to wield power” and using food as “blackmail.”

Support

  • The World – at the 2nd Defense Secretaries meeting hosted at the US’ Rammstein base in Germany, Forty-seven nations now have joined the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which was organized by the Pentagon to help address Kyiv’s immediate and long-term needs as it seeks to beat back the Russian military’s protracted invasion. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday singled out Denmark for providing Ukraine with a Harpoon launcher and missiles to help defend its coast, and the Czech Republican for agreeing to send helicopters, tanks and rocket systems. Other participating nations, he said, have donated artillery rounds and armored vehicles, or agreed to provide the Ukrainians with training and assistance to maintain its military systems.
  • Lithuania – preparing a new shipment of aid to Ukraine. 20 M113 armored vehicles; 10 military trucks; 10 SUVs for demining operations

Pray Points – Latest

  • Lughansk – Head of Luhansk regional administration: as of noon today, Bakhmut-Lysychansk road is passable, though being shelled by Russian troops and now there is no household gas supply as Russian shelling damaged the last gas pumping station in Luhansk region
  • Severodonetsk – Russian forces reportedly reached Bilohorivka and Nahirne villages between Bakhmut and Lysychansk as a part of a larger encirclement attempt. The governor of Luhansk has delivered a warning that it is too late for thousands of civilians to be evacuated from the besieged city of Severodonetsk, as it faced an intensive Russian assault to take the city and the parts of the province still held by Ukraine. Surrounded on three sides by Russian forces who have been attempting to complete their encirclement of the pocket around the city, Severodonetsk and the towns and villages to its west have been under intense bombardment in recent days. Fifteen thousand residents were still believed to be in the city hiding in shelters.
  • Zaporozhia – Russian missile destroyed shopping mall in Zaporizhzhia in what is most likely an attempt to intimidate civilian population ahead of their expected push toward the city. This is one of 4 cruise missiles Russia launched against the city this morning, 1 was shot down by Ukrainian air defense
  • Russian Airstrikes – 25 Russian strikes in last 24 hours, 18 settlements were shelled, including Avdiivka, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Mykolaivka, Lyman, Toretsk, Bakhmut, Soledar, Zalizne, Nelipivka, New York, Raigorodok, Berdychi, Shcherbynivka, Lastochkine, Kalynove, Orlivka. There are dead and wounded, 45 civilian objects destroyed, including residential houses, hospital, railway station, critical infrastructure and industrial enterprises
  • Donbas – President @ZelenskyyUa said that Russian troops in the Donbas have 20 times more vehicles than the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and called on Western partners to hand over modern weapons to Ukraine
  • Black Sea – Ukraine has said that if they would be given MLRS systems like HIMARS they could break the blockade of the ports that is leading to food shortage worldwide.
  • Mariupol – Russia claims to have taken complete controller of Azovstal and that anywhere from 2000 to 2400 Ukrainian soldiers have been taken to either prisons or hospitals. Although they have been documented as POW’s five the Red Cross to be exchanged for Russian POWs, but Denis Pushilin, the head of the separatist Donetsk region, told Russian state media said they are to be put on trial, though for what charges is to be seen
  • 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.
  • Italy & Germany – have set up ruble accounts with the EU’s blessing to circumvent sanctions and pay for Russian gas
  • Italy – has been apparently talking with Russia and submitting their own peace plan
  • EU – Hungary is holding up the 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
  • Odessa – more missile attacks, but it sounds like they’ve all been intercepted.
  • 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.
  • Kharkiv – Fighting continues in the areas of Ternov and Borshchiv with heavy shellingOccupiers are conducting enhanced aerial reconnaissance.
  • Wheat – prices soar 60% as India, the world’s second largest producer, blocks exports due to low harvest from heat wave.
  • NATO – Even as Finland and Sweden apply to join along, Turkey continues 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
  • 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 – 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 Ukraine and 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
  • 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:
    • 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.
    • 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
    • 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.
  • 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 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