Ukraine (MNN) — Monday night, June 1, Russia struck Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine with more than 70 missiles and over 650 drones.
It was the third heavy assault on Kyiv in less than a month. Previous strikes on May 13–14 and 23–24 in Kyiv and other locations were just as devastating, if not more so. This time, at least 22 people were killed, and more than 130 were wounded.
Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association was in Ukraine at the time but departed a few hours after the assault began. He says those outside Ukraine might call the attacks an escalation in the war, but for Ukrainians themselves, “it has become commonplace almost every night to have air raid sirens, to hear explosions, to hear about the loss of life.”
Polina, 16 years old. She said to appreciate your peace. (Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association)
But commonplace does not mean easy.
“It’s overwhelming for the people, it’s overwhelming for the children, and very difficult to experience.”
One teenager Mock talked with before he left was 16-year-old Polina.
“Appreciate the peace that you have,” Polina told Mock.
An 18-year-old named Anton told him, “We wish Americans would understand there really is a war here, and that they too would appreciate the peace that they have.”
Other Ukrainians sent similar messages to those outside their country, Mock says, including calls to pray for them and to care for them.
“It’s actually getting worse for them,” Mock says. “The number of fathers that are being killed, leaving war widows to care for families… the number of families that aren’t able to find work and survive, and just the overwhelming need that the churches are stepping up to deal with continues to press on.”
Yet this grim context is where God has called many of His people to live and serve. SGA comes alongside hundreds of Bible-preaching churches in Ukraine who are ministering the gospel and practical help in countless ways.
“What we’ve been doing is helping them to buy the food locally, which includes medicine, hygiene items, and different things like that, and as well as trucking that aid in from Poland,” says Mock.
SGA has helped to provide more than 31 million meals as of May 2026. Practical aid has also included providing firewood, heating oil, and small heaters so that people could survive the winter, as Russia attacked Ukraine’s power grid.
Aid distribution in Ukraine. (Photo courtesy of SGA)
Christians in Ukraine ask that others pray with them for peace to come. Pray for hearts to turn to Christ in the suffering. Mock says pastors in Ukraine are seeing this happen in real time.
“They see people that would have never come to church, who are coming to church — people who never considered Christ are coming to faith,” he says.
The third prayer request may have to do with you. “Pray that God continues to move people’s hearts to get involved,” says Mock.
Connect with SGA at their website, sga.org, to learn what getting involved could look like.
“A small help can go a big way. For a child that doesn’t have any food, doesn’t have any hope, and then all of a sudden you enable the church to show the love of Christ and share the love of Christ and make a difference,” says Mock.
Header photo: Eric Mock with pastors on the front line. (Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association)
