[March 14, 2022] - See the most recent updates at www.mwbca.org/ukraine
Mission Without Borders staff in Ukraine are managing the fragile balance of protecting their own families while helping those who have no choice but to stay and shelter from the violence of war.
Oleh S. is a coordinator for Mission Without Borders who lives in and pastors a church in Sloviansk and is one of many local staff and volunteers that are committed to provide aid to those in desperate need.
Oleh recently evacuated his family to the Polish border as they head to safety in Germany. He made the difficult decision to not join them in their journey. Instead, he returned to his hometown in order to take care of his church, the MWB families, and the elderly who have no options but to stay.
On his way back from the border, Oleh stopped in at the Mission Without Borders office in Rivne to pick up a shipment of emergency food parcels to take back home with him.
"The situation is extremely difficult ... we are practically surrounded within a radius of 50 kilometers in all directions except the road to Dnipro. Many people have left and continue to flee every day; thousands of people leave daily from the railway station; the trains evacuate them to the west of Ukraine," Oleh says as he describes the current situation.
"People stay overnight in the basements to hide from the shelling. The shops in the town are no longer able to open except some groceries and pharmacies, but they are almost empty already. Bread and water are still available. The only gas station still works in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk; the last time I went there was a long queue of about 500 cars standing there."
"The situation in occupied villages and towns is awful. The Russian occupiers commit all kinds of terrible crimes there, robbing, killing, threatening, and raping, no moral principles, no compassion, no honor," he says.
For those in his town, Oleh describes the fear people are living in. "They mostly hide in their basements at night and during the day. Unfortunately, life is totally paralyzed in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk."