July 8, 2022

Praise Reports

Success

  • Odessa – Ukrainian jets and air defense forces engaged a Russian Su-35 fighter jet as it launched missiles over Odesa Oblast, successfully intercepting the missile and forcing the jet to withdraw.
  • Donetsk – Fire at the area of Topaz plant in Donetsk again and also Ammunition exploding at arsenal in Shakhtatsk after alleged missile hit overnight
  • Kharkiv – Ukrainian army repelled Russian assault attempt at Dementiivk
  • Kherson – Something is on fire reportedly near the Hydroelectric Power Plant in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast
  • Melitopol – Ukrainian partisans in and around occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhia Oblast are increasingly targeting Russian rail lines. The Ukrainian Resistance Center reported that Ukrainian partisans blew up a railway bridge about 25 km north of Melitopol between Novobohdanivka and Troitske on July 7, likely further obstructing Russian resupply efforts from Crimea to the Zaporizhia Oblast front line. Ukrainian partisans had previously blown up a rail bridge near occupied Lyubimivka between Melitopol and Tokmak on July 3 and derailed a Russian armored train carrying ammunition near Melitopol on July 2

Truth Revealed

  • Boris Johnson – with his stepping down from leadership of the Conservative Party a fight is on to see who will take over and eventually stand as prime minister, though he is apparently intending to remain PM till autumn. The top candidate Ben Wallace the present defense minister is a staunch ally of Ukraine along with another candidate Liz Truss the foreign minister.
  • Putin’s Goals – “Everyone should know that, by and large, we haven’t started anything yet in earnest,” Putin said at a meeting of parliamentary leaders on Thursday. He added “at the same time, we don’t reject peace talks. But those who reject them should know that the further it goes, the harder it will be for them to negotiate with us.” Putin made claims the West is fueling hostilities by wanting to fight until the last Ukrainian is standing. “This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading towards this,” he noted. “Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. What can you say — let them try,” he rallied.
  • Russian Attrition – Nearly five months into Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” and after myriad reports of troops resorting to desperate measures to ditch the war, Russia’s Defense Ministry on Thursday suddenly announced it was giving some soldiers in Ukraine’s Donbas a “chance to rest.” The supposed break was announced by a spokesman for the ministry to Russian journalists early Thursday, according to TASS news agency. It was framed as a compassionate gesture meant to ensure the well-being of troops, with a spokesman quoted as saying the time would be used to “replenish combat capabilities” and allow troops to “receive letters and packages from home.” But in a separate briefing by Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov on Thursday, no mention was made of any such break, and it was not clear how many troops were supposedly being allowed to take a timeout. Nor was it clear what exactly a “chance to rest” would entail. Instead, the remarks seemed to be more in line with the Kremlin’s recent PR efforts to boost morale amid reports of dead troops literally being incinerated to hide losses and soldiers sent to the frontlines with no equipment. The pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda went all out to frame the announcement as a cause for celebration among troops, reporting that concerts have even been arranged for them.
  • Russian Mobilization – Russia has also apparently been getting more desperate in its attempts to find fresh cannon fodder for the war—so much so that the military has begun trawling public employment agencies intended to help the unemployed, according to a new report. Several Russian brigades that suffered the heaviest losses in Ukraine—including one that was accused of carrying out genocide in Bucha—have been using job-vacancy portals to prey on down-on-their-luck people desperate for work, and in some cases sending them straight to the frontline without any training. The Union of Russian Veterans of Afghanistan is registering volunteers for the Nizhny Novgorod tank battalion.
  • Russian Opposition – A court in Moscow has sentenced an opposition councillor to seven years in jail for criticising Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, the first long-term prison sentence handed out under the new laws that restrict criticism of the war. Alexei Gorinov, a deputy at Moscow’s Krasnoselsky district council and trained lawyer, was arrested in April on charges of spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian army. According to the authorities, Gorinov committed the offence when he and a fellow opposition deputy, Elena Kotenochkina, spoke out against the council’s proposal to hold a children’s drawing contest and a dancing festival despite the war in Ukraine, where Gorinov said “children were dying. I believe all efforts of [Russian] civil society should be aimed only at stopping the war and withdrawing Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine,” Gorinov said during the work meeting, which was recorded on video and is available on YouTube.
  • Occupation Economics – Russian occupation authorities continued to face challenges with effective economic integration of occupied areas of Ukraine. Russian Telegram channel Rybar reported that farmers in occupied Kherson Oblast are experiencing logistical, supply-side, and economic problems with integration into the Russian market—a sign that Russian authorities have not yet developed consistent economic agendas to incorporate Ukrainian agricultural output into the Russian economy. Rybar claimed that the wait times at border areas make perishable goods essentially impossible to import to Russia from Kherson Oblast and devalues products exported from Kherson on the Russian market. These reports suggest that Russia is failing to institute effective export practices and economic processes for Ukrainian assets—to the detriment of the livelihoods of residents of occupied areas.
  • Russian Military – Andrei Rinchino, legal head of the Free Buryatia Foundation, told Russian independent media outlet MediaZona that 17 servicemen who entered into short-term contracts with Russia’s defense ministry were locked up after they refused to continue to participate in the war and attempted to terminate their contracts. The foundation describes itself on its website as “an anti-war movement against the criminal war in Ukraine launched by the Russian Federation led by Vladimir Putin.” According to the lawyer, one of the soldiers said that about three weeks ago, they attempted to terminate their contracts as they no longer wanted to fight in Putin’s war. Rinchino said some of them were then returned to Russia, while others were ordered to wait. However, a week later, the servicemen who were ordered to wait were reportedly sent to the front line in Luhansk again. Moscow claimed military victory on Sunday after seizing the Luhansk region, which, along with the Donetsk region, comprises the Donbas.Rinchino said that as they made their way to the front line, the soldiers’ car broke down and they were left on the side of the road. They reportedly encountered troops from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, who fed them and let them hide in a basement. “But our brigade did not come, and we decided to go back [to Russia],” one serviceman said. Rinchino said the group decided to take a bus to Moscow and were detained by military police upon their arrival. The soldiers’ passports and military cards were reportedly confiscated and they were sent to the city of Alchevsk in Luhansk where they were locked up. Rinchino highlighted that some of those who have been detained had expired contracts. “They take advantage of the illiteracy of the fighters,” the lawyer said. “Firstly, they say that your contract is automatically renewed. Secondly, you are told that you will begin a new contract, that this is all according to the law, that this is how it should be. Nobody knows the law,” he added.
    Rinchino said one of the soldiers who is being detained partially lost his hearing after he was caught up in a grenade blast, but that he is still not allowed to return home. The lawyer said Russian commanders are refusing to explain why the soldiers are being held by force. “Today, one of them asked why they were kept here,” Rinchino said. “He was immediately put in a cell.”
  • Occupation Patronage – The president has decided that the Russian regions will take patronage over the districts, municipalities of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics,” Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the domestic political bloc of the presidential administration (AP) and Kremlin curator of Donbass , announced on May 19. Two Meduza sources close to the Presidential Administration confirmed that this idea really belongs to Vladimir Putin. One of them noted that the word “patronage” is well known to the head of state since Soviet times – then enterprises or collective farms, as a rule, had to help kindergartens, boarding schools, nursing homes and orphanages. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not answer questions from Meduza at the time of publication. Following Kiriyenko’s statement, the heads of the Russian regions began one after another to announce that they would restore and support individual cities and districts on the territory of the self-proclaimed LPR and DPR, for example, to build residential buildings, roads and schools. Meduza studied these public statements about “patronage” and calculated that 42 Russian regions made such a decision, the authorities of other regions did not make any statements about this.
  • Chinese Hacking – State-sponsored hackers with ties to Beijing are increasingly focusing their cyber espionage effort on Moscow, an analysis suggests. A cluster of China-linked threat activity has been observed to target Russian organizations, researchers at SentinelLabs claim. The group known as Mustang Panda has targeted Russian organizations since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, while a novel hacker group dubbed ‘Space Pirates’ penetrated Russia’s space tech industry.
  • Russian Seizure – A senior Russian lawmaker said on Thursday that Moscow would take control of the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in which ExxonMobil (XOM.N), Japan’s SODECO and India’s ONGC Videsh are partners, a week after taking over the neighboring Sakhalin-2. Pavel Zavalny, head of the energy committee in Russia’s lower house of parliament, said the move was an obvious next step. Before the invasion the ExxonMobil has been involved in Russian oil and gas projects for a quarter of a century and is the operator of the Sakhalin-1 development with a 30% stake. Other partners include Russia’s Rosneft (20%) along with Japan’s SODECO Consortium (30%) and India’s ONGC Videsh (20%) with total value of the project at about $13B.

Support

  • G20 – The foreign ministers of the United States, France and Germany discuss ways to provide Ukraine with more security and humanitarian support on the sidelines of the G20 meeting. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov of stormed out of the meeting after the other foreign ministers refused to follow up with him.
  • Australia – Australia is the largest non-NATO contributor of military assistance to Ukraine. During visit to Kyiv, PM Albanese announced increased support to Ukraine’s fight for freedom $99.5 million more in military aid (bringing total to $388 million) duty free access to Ukraine for imports

Pray Points – Latest

  • Severodonetsk – Sergey Haidai, Lughansk Governor, “In Sievierodonetsk, 80% of housing was destroyed or damaged. Some people try to return for things, but more and more often … they find an empty apartment, even if it survived. Having entered the city, the Russians first deported part of the local population, took away the keys, and then began to rob everything. They drive up to high-rise buildings in trucks. If the furniture is good, they take it away. It is no longer just about household appliances. The city is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster – there is no centralised water supply, gas supply, or electricity supply. Since the end of February, the occupiers have been shelling critical infrastructure facilities, destroying them almost completely. They will not be able to repair anything. Because even in peacetime, such a volume of restoration can be done in six months to a year. If materials and skilled workers are available. Russians have neither that nor the other. Big problem with sewage. Treatment plants are not working, as well as pumping stations. Sewage accumulates. Add to that the air temperature. And the stench from the dead – those who were buried in yards, and many remain in apartments and entrances. Sievierodonetsk is witnessing a humanitarian disaster.” It is thought that around as many as 15,000 civilians may still be in the city, which has been a key strategic point for the Russian occupation of the Luhansk region.
  • False News – Bulgarian sources are pushing a narrative that backs French opposition forces contention that Ukrainians would hitech howitzers to the Russians. Selling the $1.2M for $70,000.
  • Mikolaiv – Russian forces launched 12 Kalibr high-precision cruise missiles at Mykolaiv City and Ochakiv, Mykolaiv Oblast from positions in occupied Kherson Oblast, likely targeting Ukrainian maritime infrastructure in both cities
  • Slovyansk – Mayor Vadym Lyakh said about 23,000 people out of 110,000 were still in Sloviansk but claimed Russia had been unable to surround the city. The governor of the Donetsk region has also urged 350,000 civilians to evacuate in light of an imminent Russian offensive. Pavlo Kyrylenko said that getting people out is necessary to save lives and to enable the Ukrainian army to better defend towns from the Russian advance. The battle for Sloviansk is likely to be the next key contest in the struggle for Donbas as Russian forces approach within 16km of the Donetsk town, the UK Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday. Russian forces from the eastern and western groups of forces are likely now around 16km north of Sloviansk as central and southern groups of forces also pose a threat to the town, according to the latest British intelligence report.
  • UK – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to resign Thursday after days of defections crippled the controversial leader and left him unable to govern. Boris Johnson is to stand down as Conservative Party leader, but intends to carry on as prime minister until the autumn
  • Corruption – Besides fighting Russia, Ukraine must also actively combat corruption in order to unleash a massive influx of reconstruction money, the head of the UN development agency told AFP. Fighting corruption — endemic in Ukraine long before the Russian invasion — will “prevent theft from its own people”, United Nations Development Programme administrator Achim Steiner said. Corruption is theft from development, from the public coffers and ultimately from citizens themselves, the UNDP chief said, on the sidelines of the Lugano reconstruction conference.
  • Bakhmut – Klynove, 8 km East of Bakhmut, has fallen to the Russian invasion army Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov noted that Russian forces around Bakhmut have a distinct advantage in terms of force and means. Gromov stated that Russian forces are conducting operations towards Soledar, which lies just northeast of Bakhmut along the T0513 Bakhmut-Siversk highway, and suggests that Russian forces additionally seek to interdict Ukrainian lines of communication along the T0513.
  • Lysychansk – Ukraine has withdrawn. Russia will shift the main focus of its war in Ukraine to trying to seize all of the Donetsk region after capturing neighbouring Luhansk, the Luhansk region’s governor Serhai Haidai has said. He claimed about 8,000 civilians remain in occupied Sievierodonetsk and about 10,000 in newly occupied Lysychansk. “We maintain the defense of a small part of Luhansk region so that our military has time to build defences.”
  • Donetsk – Serhiy Gaidai said in an interview that he expected the city of Sloviansk and the town of Bakhmut in particular to come under attack as Russia tries to take full control of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
  • Odessa – two enemy missile carriers, with more than a dozen cruise missiles on board, continue to be present in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, posing a threat of strikes across Ukraine. “Three large landing craft have joined them. Not feeling protected, they keep a safe distance from the Ukrainian coast,” the military added.
  • Belarus – Lukashenka claims Ukrainian military attempted to strike military installations in Belarus, but all missiles were intercepted. Says now Belarusian missiles aimed to “centers of decision making against Belarus.” Lukashenka says that Minsk doesn’t want to take part in the war in Ukraine. Says Putin doesn’t use nuclear blackmail. Says Minsk and Moscow should be ready to respond to “aggressive actions by the West” in 24 hours
  • Belgorod – At least three people were killed and dozens of homes damaged by blasts in the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukraine border, the regional governor said on Sunday, while Ukrainian forces struck a Russian military base in occupied southern Ukraine. At least 11 apartment buildings and 39 houses were damaged, including five that were destroyed, Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app. Senior Russian lawmaker Andrei Klishas accused Ukraine of shelling Belgorod and called for a stern response. “The death of civilians and the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Belgorod are a direct act of aggression on the part of Ukraine and require the most severe – including a military – response,” Klishas wrote on Telegram. The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a “deliberate strike” on residential areas of Belgorod with three Tochka-U ballistic missiles with cluster munitions, the Russian Defense Ministry said. According to the department, all the missiles were destroyed by air defense systems, but fragments of one of them fell on a residential building. “Also, Russian air defense systems destroyed two Tu-143 Reis Ukrainian reactive unmanned aerial vehicles stuffed with explosives on their way to Kursk,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing. According to him, the missile strike was “purposefully planned and carried out against the peaceful civilian population of Russian cities.”
  • Logistics – Konstiantyn Nemichev, stated that Ukrainian forces will use US-provided HIMARS rocket artillery systems to disrupt Russian Ground Lines of Communication or GLOCs running through Vovchansk, Kupyansk, and Izyum. Kupyansk is a significant logistical hub for Russian forces operating on the Kharkiv axis and is located approximately 50km from the frontline. Vovchansk lies approximately 15-20 km from the frontline, but Russian operations in northern Kharkiv have prevented Ukrainian forces from targeting Vovchansk with indirect fire thus far. Russian GLOCs to Izyum are the most exposed, approximately 15km east of the nearest frontline, and NASA FIRMS heat anomaly detection has observed heat anomalies consistent with indirect fire attacks in wooded areas west of Izyum in recent weeks. Most Russian major ammunition depots and support stations along the Kharkiv axis would be within the range of HIMARS systems that would cover the Kharkiv axis.
  • 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.
  • 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 – Only 3% of Mariupol residents have access to water, according to the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian city’s mayoral adviser, Petro Andriushchenko. Residents are being forced to take water everywhere, “including sewage wells”, Andriushchenko said. There are no doctors left in the city, he said, leaving more than 100,000 people without healthcare and medication. 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.
  • 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.
  • 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