![\"(AP](\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/AP-Photo-Sergei-Grits.jpg\")
<\/a>Workers remove a body from a home that was shelled just outside of Donetsk (AP Photo\/Sergei Grits)<\/p><\/div>\n
When everything started in back in April my friend said he didn’t expect it to last long. The separatist had their gatherings to protest the new government in Kyiv and even though some of them were violent, it didn’t seem like it would go too far.<\/p>\n
Then they took over the city council building and started storming police stations. When the referendum happened in May, everyone expected Russia to quickly accept Donetsk into the Russian Federation, but they didn’t. That’s when things started going bad!<\/p>\n
The local separatists who had taken the city where quickly replaced with mercenaries, some from Russia, some from Chenya and other places, none of them local! The newly formed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) began to actively fight the Ukrainian army.<\/p>\n
My friend’s church is not far from the Donetsk airport where much of the heavy fighting has taken place! He told me:<\/p>\n
“When you see a tank come down your street, stop and then start firing, it’s scary and you start thinking about how you can get out!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Just two weeks ago my friend made a quick trip back to Donetsk. He wanted to lead the church body in the Lord’s supper and to provide what help he could to those who stayed behind.<\/p>\n
He told me about one young man who was walking to church when he happened to get right in the middle of an intense shoot-out. Not knowing where to run, he hopped a fence and tried to hide in a shed. Moments later a shell landed not far from him. Shrapnel flew in all directions and filled his back with bits of metal. A laptop that he had been carrying in his backpack caught much of the shrapnel and probably saved his life. Others weren’t so lucky!<\/p>\n
Unfortunately the (DPR) is not very friendly toward evangelical churches. When I asked my pastor friend about the relationship between the DPR and the churches in town he told me:<\/p>\n
“All evangelicals are American spies, that’s what they say!”<\/p>\n
“They came into our church and searched for something but didn’t find it so, thankfully they decided to leave us alone after that.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
My friend has a small church of about 80 people. They rent their facility, which stands just about 30 feet away from a large DPR military camp that was recently set up for their soldiers. Thankfully his church still has a place to meet but many other churches have lost their buildings.<\/p>\n
“If they (DPR) see that your church has a building that is well situated, on the street corner with a good strong basement, then they just take it and use it for their own purposes!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
90% of my friend’s congregation have fled the city. Those who stayed are mainly the elderly who aren’t physically able to leave or simply have no place to go. He told me:<\/p>\n
“Caleb, our church is like it says in the book of James ‘scattered among the nations.’ Everyone has fled to a different city.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Concerning the dire situation in the city, my friend told me that for the last couple of days there has been no water. However, the big problem now is that none of the elderly are receiving their pensions. Some people have a little money saved up but many live month to month. That means they won’t even have money to buy bread and other basic needs.<\/p>\n
Please pray for Eastern Ukraine and if you’d like to help believers like my pastor friend and his church please go here.<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today I sat down with a pastor friend (name withheld for safety reasons) from Donetsk. He and his family fled the city over a month ago with hopes that they would soon be able to return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,193],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ministry","category-ukraine-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-16Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4017,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/this-is-why-theyre-called-terrorists\/","url_meta":{"origin":4276,"position":0},"title":"This is Why They’re Called Terrorists","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"June 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Terrorists are those who use fear and threats to control people and get what they want. In general that means beat, torture and kill those who disagree with you or in any way oppose you! Unfortunately Eastern and Southern Ukraine are full of terrorists now and sadly Pastor Sergey has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/terrorists.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/terrorists.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/terrorists.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5226,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/donetsk-war-on-protestant-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":4276,"position":1},"title":"Donetsk’ War on Protestant Churches","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"March 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Is there a targeted effort to take out Protestant Churches in the Eastern Ukraine war-zone? In this video reporter Simon Ostrovsky\u00a0recently traveled to Donetsk and visited several Protestant church buildings that are now under the control of Donetsk People's Republic soldiers. One pastor describes how armed men came to their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New"","block_context":{"text":"New","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/new\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/propoganda.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/propoganda.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/propoganda.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4950,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/defeated-ukrainian-soldiers-hypnotized-by-charles-stanley\/","url_meta":{"origin":4276,"position":2},"title":"Defeated Ukrainian Soldiers “Hypnotized” by Charles Stanley","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"January 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Things have gone from bad to worse in Eastern Ukraine over the past couple of days. For several months Ukrainian soldiers nicknamed \"cyborgs\" have held the airport in Donetsk. Today Ukraine finally admitted defeat at the Donetsk airport and the loss of 37 soldiers! https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ENitt6Ene6A When the separatist forces entered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ukraine"","block_context":{"text":"Ukraine","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ukraine-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/zombies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/zombies.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/zombies.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5151,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/missions-on-the-frontline-in-ukraine\/","url_meta":{"origin":4276,"position":3},"title":"Missions on the Frontline in Ukraine","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"March 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In some ways it can be hard to get you mind around what has happened and what is happening in Eastern Ukraine. The war and the resulting humanitarian crisis is affecting millions of people. We are thankful that in a small way our team of missionaries we have been able\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ukraine"","block_context":{"text":"Ukraine","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ukraine-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/crisis-ukraine.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/crisis-ukraine.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/crisis-ukraine.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4381,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/fighting-kills-elderly-church-member-during-ceasefire-in-donetsk-ukraine\/","url_meta":{"origin":4276,"position":4},"title":"Fighting Kills Elderly Church Member During Ceasefire in Donetsk Ukraine","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"September 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I received heart wrenching news from a friend whose church is in Donetsk. A piece of shrapnel killed one of their church members right in her own yard! This is the brutal truth of the supposed ceasefire in Ukraine. People are still dying! Officially the war has killed around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/donetsk-dead.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/donetsk-dead.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/donetsk-dead.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4471,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/is-there-a-war-against-the-protestant-church-by-radical-orthodox\/","url_meta":{"origin":4276,"position":5},"title":"Is There a War Against the Protestant Church by Radical Orthodox?","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"October 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in June I wrote about how Peter Dudnik's church in Slavyansk was seized by separatists and then used as a military base and as a firing position on Ukrainian forces. 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