One of Haggai International’s representatives lives in Ukraine, which is currently under siege by the Russian Federation. We reached out to her to get an on-the-ground update on the situation. Here’s what she writes.

“The last 29 hours have been surreal. Wednesday, we woke up to explosions that sounded very close. We went to our computers and saw that Putin has announced a military operation. Right away, many cities in Ukraine were bombed. At the same time, Russian tanks started moving from several directions. Our army was trying to hold them back and, in some places, we succeeded, but Russians took over a big part of the Kherson region in the south and Sumy, the capital of a region in the north, and Chernobyl. Their special forces were dropped near Kyiv and tried to take over an airport. Thirty-four helicopters brought these troops, and three of those were shot by our forces. The fighting lasted all day.

Thursday morning, February 24, we woke up with our windows shaking from a huge explosion and the sky was orange. It turned out that our air defense shot two missiles in the air, but the debris fell on two buildings nearby — one of those was a seven-minute walk from us. At least eight people are injured.

Our daughter who is now at the end of her 38th week of pregnancy and her husband live next door to us. We have agreed that a corridor between our apartments might be a good bomb shelter as it is a small space between two bearing walls and no windows. There is a bomb shelter in the basement of our 12-story building, but it’s very small for the number of people who use it, and it’s bare (not even a restroom). We tried to make our own improvised bomb shelter a bit more comfortable. We spent most of the morning in here since air raid sirens were working non-stop since 4:20 am.

Today, Friday, February 25, might be a decisive day for our future. Russian tanks are already in the Kyiv suburbs. Our army is fighting hard. Putin’s goals are to overthrow the Ukrainian government. If he succeeds today, there will be no independent Ukraine.

Of course, we are very concerned about our pregnant daughter. She might go into labor any moment. We pray it will not be at the time when Russian planes are dropping bombs on our region of Kyiv. We are close to the hospital and thankfully hospitals are still working. We are praying hard and trusting God for the right timing of the baby’s arrival — when it’s the safest. The New York Times posted a video from a neonatal intensive care unit having to move to the basement of the hospital because the city was under heavy shelling.

Please keep praying for my daughter and the safe delivery of her baby! Pray also that the Ukrainian army will be able to stand against the aggressors and that God will help us overcome a much stronger force than we are.”

Together, Russia and Ukraine are home to more than 440 Haggai leaders. Please pray for the safety of all the civilians, for our Haggai leaders and their families in the region, and all those making difficult decisions in the days ahead.