This devastating war continues into a third year this week: seven hundred and thirty days, thousands killed and wounded, and an entire population traumatised as towns, cities and countryside are devastated. In February 2022, it seemed hardly possible that a second war would start in Ukraine, but many of our assumptions of security have been overturned in these last few years.

Below is a reminder of what the front-line experience is for our partners as they continue to provide life-saving relief in extremely dangerous conditions:

Heading out now for Bakhmut and the road becomes familiar again, remembering the burning land to the left-hand side last time from artillery pounding. Our driver pulls over for the second time, talking very fast into the phone, and then pulling out at speed from the alert. Now doing a U-turn, pointing to where we had been going saying “Bakhmut”, and I point that way and give the thumbs down and he says, ‘Yes, that road is under attack’, and I understand that we have to find a way in on smaller roads – much smaller as it happens. Now we are on drone alert, checking our respective sides of the van and behind and making sure our phones are disconnected to prevent tracking. There is thick mud right across these roads, while I watch in disbelief an old lady sweeping the bit just in front of her house, exactly as my mother would have done.

On behalf of all the trustees of DHM and our many generous donors, I want to reassure our selfless partners who continue to serve their communities across Ukraine that we continue to stand by them and will seek to meet the needs of their communities for as long as this terrible war continues. We do not stand alone as we seek to bring the reality of the risen Christ and his Kingdom to the people of Ukraine in war and, we pray, in peace.

Mark Allchorn

Chair of Trustees

Photo – thanks to Pastor Aleksei