View on Heroism of the Ukrainian People From the Perspective of a Military Chaplain
Introduction
Hello, community. My name is Viktor and I’m a military chaplain. I work as a programmer for an American Software Product company.
The second month of Ukrainian resistance came to an end and a lot happened in my life in April. Today I’d like to share with you a report of the work I’ve done over the past month, the story of a ballistic missile strike on my city, meeting with my son whom I haven’t seen in 50 days, and a few tales from people, volunteers and soldiers whom we are supporting together with you!
I even succeed in combining programming and chaplain service!
Currently, I am working with the Eastern Europe Reformation Foundation, Spasinya Church Union, Military Chaplain Corp, Skeemans church, Territorial Defense, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In April most of my work consisted of supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Territorial Defense, and financing the evacuation of civilians from the Chernihiv Region and the East of Ukraine.
Currently, we have evacuated 45 people from Kyiv, 70 people from the Chernihiv Region, and 100 from the East of Ukraine. 215 people in total.
The missile strike story
A week ago, on April 15, the occupants launched several missile strikes on my city and several more on the surrounding areas. At that time, I couldn’t fall asleep, hearing and seeing almost every explosion. After the fourth strike, my apartment building started shaking and I realized that it might be time to drive to the bomb shelter. Honestly, I was in shock. But it only lasted for about three minutes, and then I pulled myself together and started thinking about who else I can help right now.
Fear is normal. The important thing is what you do with it. Whether you panic or pull yourself together.
On my way down I knocked on my neighbors’ door and invited them to ride with me. So three more people and a kitten made it by my car to the basement with me. It was the first time since the active phase of the war started that I went to a bomb shelter.
The next morning I had to go to Lviv to meet with my son and wife, they were supposed to be crossing the Polish border at that time. So, without a single hour of sleep, I took the Zhytomyr direction road to meet my family. Starting at the turn to Stoyanka and all the way to Zhytomyr Region there were almost no intact structures. Many buildings and other structures were ruined.
Meeting with my son
Though my wife has visited me before, I haven’t seen Gabriel in 50 days.
The three of us spent quality time together and even took our cat from Ternopil, where he has lived with our friends since the war started.
On Monday, April 17th, I sent my family back to Poland. 30 minutes later the russians launched a missile strike on Lviv. I saw and heard those missiles and explosions. It was horrible. People died then.
I wanted to share a few stories with you, I think you’ll be interested.
Story from a member of the Territorial Defense in Motyzhyn.
This is a story of one of my acquaintances who has been defending Motyzhyn from February 28th to March 4th.
When on February 28th columns of occupants were approaching the Zhytomyr track, the four of them met them. He, his two sons, and their friend. They realized it was a one-way trip. They had a few rifles and one grenade launcher. Something happened and the occupants decided to take another road, through a different side of the forest. But then, out of nowhere villagers showed up with chainsaws and blocks of concrete. They blocked the road and slowed down the column’s advance. 7 Russian vehicles got stuck and were left in the mud. But the most interesting part happened when the hero of our story started correcting our artillery strikes on the russians. In the next 4 days, they were fired at from Pions (Ukrainian howitzers), Bayraktars, Javelins, fighter planes and helicopters, and all that because of the work of the hero of this story. When it was impossible to remain there, he evacuated with his family on a very dangerous road, under the bombings.
In the photo below is a family that was killed by the occupants. They are the ones that stopped the russian columns together with the hero of this story, as they were advancing on Kyiv. Were they not stopped there, Vyshneve, my city, would have been next. But we were ready to meet them in such a way that the Chechen war would seem like heaven to them!
Vadym’s stories
With Vadym’s permission, I’ll share stories of a few miracles that we’ve witnessed in his life and in our team. Vadym is a brave person. He is one of the pastors in our church. He has three children. He could have easily gone to Europe with his family. But he is here. Defending Ukraine. His team evacuated over 2000 people from Bucha, Irpin’, Vorzel’, Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Donbas. He is currently in the East of Ukraine. I think he should receive the Hero of Ukraine award.
At the moment of the writing of this article, today on April 22, Vadym hit a landmine near Lysychansk, causing it to explode. They survived, but it was a real miracle. I might describe it in my next article.
Woman from Severodonetsk
The following is a quote from Vadym, I’m telling it as it is:
“Yesterday we had to pick up a person from Severodonetsk, she is a disabled woman. The Ukrainian soldiers refused to go there, they told us everything there is under fire and that if we want to we can go ourselves. We took the risk and, thank God, got her out of there. This woman spent the entire war alone, her house is on the edge of the city, there was no one left there but her, the building is completely ruined. She told us she lay there and cried for help when she heard someone walk under the windows. In the winter when it was -12 Celsius (10 Fahrenheit) there were no windows in her house and hot shards from missiles flew onto the bed she lay in. To stay sane she kept a diary where she would write down how she lived through a day. She heard the screams of russians and machine guns. In short, it was horrible, it’s a miracle she survived!
On her way out with us, she enjoyed everything- rain, people, water, birds…”
Evacuation of a policeman’s child from Chernihiv
“We parked near a police department in Chernihiv. A policeman approached us and asked if we could evacuate his infant child and wife. He really had no opportunity at that time, at the end of March, to just get out and take his family to a safe place. This man upheld his duty to the end!
Evacuating Maxym, a disabled child
“Four-year-old Maxym with his mother Nastya and father Ivan lived in Bucha. We lost contact with the family on February 26. On March 2nd, the family reached out to us and told us that they were in the basement of their house, and for a week now they’ve been living without electricity, heating, and water. They also told us that the boy had a very high fever for two days now. After praying we made the decision to go get Maxim in Bucha. When we approached the last post of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, they refused to let us through. Because of active combat in the city, no one was let in, only out. Artillery was working very actively, bullets were flying above our heads from tracing fire. After waiting for a while, we were able to get into a car with one of the locals and cross the bridge. After finding the house where Maxim’s family lived, we descended into the basement and found Maxim with his parents. The boy had a very high fever. After taking all the necessary things, we left the basement and headed towards a bridge we could cross into Irpin’. There were a lot of destroyed vehicles on the way. Stray dogs on the streets were whining from artillery fire and trying to rub up to us. Close to the bridge a destroyed tank burned. When we approached the bridge we realized that it was entirely visible to the enemy and could be fired at from all directions. We had no other way out, so after saying a prayer we entered the bridge and started slowly moving toward Irpin’. Our soldiers were already waiting on us on the other side of the bridge, holding their breath. When we approached the middle of the bridge, there were a lot of artillery explosions, and the soldiers started yelling “run to us” and when there was only a quarter of the bridge left we ran. Once we reached our soldiers we were safe. They gave Vanya candy and took us to a crossing. When we crossed the river we sat in our car and took the family to our refugee camp. A few hours after the evacuation I was told that a missile hit the house where the family was hiding. Right now the boy is safe and absolutely healthy. Glory to Jesus Christ. A week later that home in Bucha was hit by a missile.”
They can take anything from us, but no one can take our Freedom, Faith in God, and Faith in Victory. This is a war of liberation for our people. And we will be victorious!
THE REPORT
After my last article, we collected almost 100,000 hryvnias (~$3,300), which was great support for us. In total, since the beginning of the war, we’ve collected over 430,000 hryvnias (~$14,200) from various sources.
We managed to obtain and deliver 5 bullet vests, 6 armor plates, 10 tactical American medical aid kits, military uniforms, and tactical vests. We delivered tens of tons of humanitarian aid from Poland, a bus for evacuation and chaplaincy needs to CRS, and a lot more.
Since the beginning of the second phase of the war, particularly since February 27, 2022, when I became a chaplain, we’ve spent:
- Fuel and vehicles- 71 814 (~2,400$)
- Cash 28 039 (~$900)
- Food 43 901 (~1,450$)
- Medicine 20 191 (~700$)
- Clothes and footwear 17 483 (~$600)
- Communications+ Internet 700 (~$25)
- Stay in Lviv and beyond the border (3 times) 7000 (~$250)
- Fixing vehicles after a traffic accident on our way to evacuation in Nizhin 33 500 (~$1100) (the sum will increase)
- Fixing other vehicles 9 000 (~$300)
- Evacuation Chernihiv 17 000 (~$600)
- Evacuation Donbas 90 000 (~$3,000)
- Aiding the Ukrainian Armed Forces 26 150 (~$900)
- Aiding the Territorial Defense 20 150 (~$700)
- Volunteers 2 000 (~$70)
- Aid 10 000 hryvnias. (~$300) to the hero of this video from Hromadske, who was in captivity. I know him personally.
In total, 396 928 hryvnias or over $13,000. It may seem like a lot, but it’s a small part of what needs to be done.
If you have the opportunity to help us with what we do, don’t hesitate. Share this article with your friends and acquaintances. I have a Monobank card, you can donate there. If you’re outside of Ukraine, I have PayPal and a Binance wallet. If you work without cash, I have requisites of the fund. Message me on LinkedIn or Telegram @VicChern.
If you have the contact info of volunteers that buy ammunition and other equipment for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, give me direct contacts. We will deliver everything to the front.
Thank you for reading to the end. Thank you for your prayers, your support, and your open hearts.
Everything will be Ukraine. Victory will be ours!
