KYIV, Ukraine – Outnumbered and outflanked, Ukrainians have steadily lost ground while battling eroding morale after nearly three years since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine’s enduring defense against the initial incursion and encroaching occupation relies heavily on international support both on the battlefield and highly coordinated diplomatic efforts from partners like the U.S., E.U., and NATO.
However, their cause has been amplified by public support through the government-backed Ukraine24 campaign, which has raised more than $500 million in global contributions with the help of celebrity ambassadors like Richard Branson, Brad Paisley, Barbara Streisand, and Mark Hamill.
A much smaller, more targeted effort launched last spring, focusing on a segment of Americans who could sway policy decisions in the second administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump: Christian evangelicals.
As president of Defenders of Faith and Religious Freedom in Ukraine, Gary Marx is on a mission to engage with evangelicals – some of whom remain more skeptical about Ukraine – to build a connection based on shared values like family, freedom, religious liberty, and traditional values.
“There’s a sense of we have problems that we need to solve here at home,” he explained. “So, definitely, we have to be able to answer those questions [and] help people understand what the investment in Ukraine is getting, what that partnership looks like: having a respected ally who’s a western nation, who’s predominantly a Christian nation—85% Christian. People that are just like them.”
CBN News covered Marx’s group last summer when it brought pastors to U.S. churches seeking to raise awareness.
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In December, Marx turned the tables by inviting a small group of American conservatives to Ukraine for a firsthand look at how the war has impacted Ukraine’s churches and most vulnerable members of society.
The delegation included representatives from several Christian universities and organizations like the America First Policy Institute, American Enterprise Institute, Concerned Women of America, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, the Heritage Foundation, and the National Association of Evangelicals.
CBN News was invited to document the trip, which included stops in Poland where the group met pastors and church leaders who provided food, shelter, and clothing to some of the millions of Ukrainians who fled when the war began.
In Ukraine, the group visited patients and doctors at Okhmatdyt, the country’s largest children’s hospital. The medical complex, located in Kyiv, is still rebuilding after a deadly Russian missile strike in July.
They later toured a shelter for rescued Ukrainian children – tragic and unwilling trophies of war who were freed after being abducted by the Russian military.
The delegation also met with university students at the Kyiv School of Economics, visiting bomb shelters that double as classrooms during frequent air raid warnings. Marx’s group is a project of the school’s Kyiv Global Outreach.
During meetings at Ukraine’s parliament, they listened to lawmakers repeatedly express hope for a “just” and “lasting” peace in the wake of President-elect Trump’s reelection win.
However, they spent the bulk of their time with Ukraine’s faith community, listening to fellow evangelicals recount how the war has changed their lives and exposes them as targets of the Russian army.
While Ukraine’s armed forces continue to fight at the battlefront, Christian believers in Ukraine are waging war on another front. They see it as a spiritual battle for the soul of Ukraine – viewed as the Bible belt of eastern Europe – and beyond.
But they’re not fighting alone. They’re locking arms with other faith traditions through the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, which includes Jews, Muslims, and Orthodox and evangelical Christians.
“We are very united, especially now during the war. We [are] standing together because Ukraine is our home,” said the Rev. Anatoliy Raychynets who works for the Ukrainian Bible Society and also serves as the current UCCRO chair.
He insists they’re also fighting Russia’s attacks on their religious freedom.
“All churches, all religious groups in Ukraine have full freedom to practice their faith. This is very important to us,” he added while offering a contrast of what’s happening in Russia and occupied territories.
“Many churches I know personally in Moscow [and] in other places have been closed down,” Raychynets told CBN News. “So we cannot speak about religious freedom in Russia, because this is not a topic to speak about.”
The council recounted reports of executions of pastors and other religious leaders along with the destruction of more than 700 churches so far during the conflict.
Former Ohio congressman and UN ambassador Tony Hall accompanied the delegation during meetings at the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament.
He advocated for lawmakers to institute a state sanctioned day of prayer for Ukraine, much like the congressionally-mandated National Day of Prayer in the U.S. Supporters told lawmakers “God tends to lean in” when a nation unites in prayer.
Within days, the parliament drafted a bill to establish a National Day of Prayer in Ukraine. If it passes and becomes law, the annual commemoration would fall on February 24, the anniversary of the current war. CBN News has learned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is aware and open to signing the legislation.
Kelley Currie, a human rights attorney who served as a UN ambassador during the first Trump White House, was among the American visitors. She told CBN News the trip provided a clear lens through which to view what’s at stake.
“I think that we don’t talk enough about the evil behind this,” Currie explained invoking Russian leadership. “There is evil in the world, and Vladimir Putin and the people he supports are behind a great deal of it.”
“The focus of this trip – engaging with other people of faith in Ukraine and hearing from them about what this means to them – has really brought that home,” Currie added.
Eric Patterson, president of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, also attended the trip. He told CBN News Americans would likely see Moscow as a threat to the U.S. and its European allies if people were more tuned in to Russia’s recent foreign activity in neighboring countries like Georgia and Moldova.
He also believes much of the doubt fueling American skepticism stems from a perception of corruption.
“Often what I hear is that Ukraine is a uniquely corrupt country,” he explained. “And that’s just really a false view.”
“When you look at corruption indices that are out there, Ukraine is not in the top third,” Patterson said. “It has about the same ranking to say Serbia or Brazil and others. And we don’t say, ‘We’re not going to help out Egypt,’ which is ranked lower. Or the Philippines, which is ranked lower. Because it’s a young country, and it’s having to learn and feel its way.”
Despite much of the harsh and sobering realities the group encountered, some on the trip found signs of hope.
“Wherever you see human need around the world, you don’t have to look very far to see Christians rolling up their sleeves and helping the most vulnerable,” said Daniel Darling, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. “And that’s the case in Ukraine.”
Pastors and church volunteers escorted the delegation throughout their time in Kyiv. Regardless of location or the audience, the American visitors invariably were met by two repeated phrases from their Ukrainian hosts: “You are brave” and “Thank you for coming.”
The timing of the trip came weeks after North Korean soldiers joined Russia’s military campaign and days after Moscow test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile.
However, the team’s nearest brush with harm was realized after returning safely to the U.S. The group dined at Bassano Ristorante in Kyiv during their first night in Ukraine. That same restaurant was hit by a ballistic missile two weeks later.
For Marx and his Ukrainian counterparts, they call this a “good versus evil” moment which they liken to President Ronald Reagan’s 1983 “Evil Empire” speech to the National Association of Evangelicals.
“He went to the church people who have that moral center and understand righteous indignation and standing up against evil and looking at it in the eyes,” Marx explained. “That’s why we know that this is the most powerful voice.”
They hope using a similar playbook 40 years later will help Ukraine remain as the Bible Belt of Eastern Europe and a beacon to light the world.
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