We did not find ourselves under fire from shells or bullets. We just left on February 24 after we learned that the siege of Mariupol had begun, and this city was a red line for us.
The Lord clearly indicated to us in Proverbs 24:11–12 that we leave for Moldova and arrange bases and transport for evacuation outside of Moldova.
In the first four days, the Jewish organizations were not ready to accept Jewish refugees, I will give them respect in that, already on Monday, February 28, the consulates began to take concrete actions.
During these first four days, our Jewish families, even those who had been rejected before, grouped up and began to leave.
As they always asked where, when, and how, we completely took up various ways of crossing the border, since already on the evening of 24, after we crossed the border, the law on the mobilization of men from 18–60 entered into force.
Crossing the border is difficult, but we found a way out for men, and they crossed with their children. Then, after a while, their wives crossed the same border.
But this option was valid for only three days, and during this time, many members of our communities were able to cross the border.
Many stayed to protect property from marauders and with old people who did not want to leave their homes.
The most interesting moment was when those who were denied Aliyah in the past were denied this time, both in Chisinau and in Bucharest.
We started trying to figure out how to get to Eretz Israel and took the risk of sending people to Poland for another meeting with the consul, and yes, it worked!!!
Then, we learned that our member of the community who stayed in Odessa knows the consul in the neighboring country. He talked to her, and another miracle, the family was allowed to leave, and only today she will land in the promised land.
What can we say, that out of nine families, and that is twenty-three people, so far only two have hung up, who were refused, but we are thinking of how to overcome this.
Valentin
In the time of World War II, my Jewish grandmothers died in the city of Vinnitsa at the hands of fascist invaders. Their names and photographs are stored in Yad Vashem, and I hope the Lord has their souls. Because of the beginning of this war from Russia, I had to leave my home in Kiev and escaped from Ukraine. Now, I am in Spain and my soul cries out: “Purim will come, Haman is defeated! Hashem is coming!!!”
Irina
We have one family in our congregation who dedicated their lives to serving children—Julia and Peter. They had a family-type orphanage.
So, the kids grew up, they adopted the last boy, and one a little younger than their own. That is, two boys of school age and their own daughter, who has reached the age of majority, remained on the maintenance.
Most of Julia’s relatives live in the United States, and they also decided to emigrate.
The process took three years. Finally, the embassy opened a visa, and on March 8, they were supposed to fly out, but the war began.
Russian tanks went to their native Lyutezh. A few days in your own basement under bomb explosions, a headlong escape by car to the Polish border, four days in line, and here is the long-awaited border.
And . . . Peter is turned around . . .
They say that, because of the mobilization, he will not be released.
Attempts to persuade the controller lead to nothing. Julia, in tears, writes in the community chat that Peter is not allowed in: a decision must be made whether to leave or stay. We are all outraged and begin to pray.
After ten minutes, the shift supervisor comes up to them and says that he will try to help them.
He starts calling high authorities. After another half an hour of worries and prayers, the whole family passes the border . . .
Now they are in Poland.
Maxim
In these terrible days of war, like never before, I see the Almighty, blessed be He. One day, our lights were turned off, and I went to the subway to charge my phone. I saw a powerful volunteer movement. Each person was fed and given tea.
Once, a car stopped at my house, and a man was looking for a basement where people hide in order to distribute bread. Also, when I was standing at the store, a man came up and began to distribute loaves to people for free.
Volunteers asking for help posted. I have never seen such love of people for each other. What is this if not the beneficent hand of God?!
Also, in the queues and on the Internet, people talk about God, blessed be He. There is a formation of a new, united people!
“How blessed are the people who are so situated. How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 144:15).
Vladislav
Now, God is working miracles in Ukraine. You ask: “What miracles? There is a war.”
I personally know two believing families who had serious family problems. It seemed that, in this world, they were insoluble.
One family had peace but no unity. The husband lived in his apartment, the wife lived in her apartment with her mother and daughter. When the shelling began, the wife moved in with her husband because it is safer to live in his area. There has not been such unity for many years!
Although the other family lived together, the husband and wife had constant conflicts. The war brought them together. This is how God is working miracles!
Victor
During the conduct of hostilities by Russian troops near Kyiv, we were forced to leave Kyiv on the third day of the war. Leaving everything, the whole family, we left Kyiv to the city of Malin, Zhytomyr region. But two days later, it became very dangerous to be in Malin. We came under air attack, bombs exploded from our location 1.5 kilometers away, all the windows flew out in the house, we spent four days in a bomb shelter. After that, I decided to take my family to western Ukraine in Transcarpathia. We left early in the morning through the forests, the road was very difficult. We traveled to Transcarpathia for two days. Arriving in Transcarpathia, we found a family who offered us a place in their house, and they gave us one room. At the moment, we are safe, but without anything—no clothes, no salaries, no house, etc. One family from our community—Dima, Roza, and their three children—were also under fire. We took them abroad to Poland on our own. Another person was taken to Israel.
Thank you very much for financial assistance to our community as well as your prayers. It is very encouraging to all of us that we are not abandoned by God and that God cares about us and does not leave us in a difficult time for us
Vladimir
From the first day of the war, I made a decision, despite the heavy shelling, to stay in Kharkov and support those people who could not or did not want to leave. Moreover, I try to reach Jewish pensioners and help them talk about Yeshua with food. Little by little, a base is being formed with these people who, after the war, I will be able to invite to serve the community. Often, I have to travel under bombing and shelling, but not once has the Almighty allowed any defeat in my life! I will never forget the grateful eyes of these elderly Jews whom I helped.
Gennadiy
Since the war began, we got involved with humanitarian mission, helping out Messianic believers throughout Ukraine with evacuation, food, medicine supply, financial support, etc. We were thrilled at the good Purim wishes we heard from our Jewish brother Oleh Yosifovich Boyarskiy of Poltava. He called us Esther and Mordechai, who are saving their people now. It is an honour to stand together in the time of adversity with our beloved brothers and sisters who are facing tremendous physical, psychological, and spiritual pressure.
Sergey
You know, as far as I can tell, (and I saw, and I watched people), people rallied. I would say, like never before, people rallied, and people became very kind to each other. For example, the people that I saw in line in one street shop, which did not accept credit cards but only cash, people collected money for an unfamiliar old woman and bought her groceries because she hasn’t eaten in three days. Certainly, people have become kinder and more attentive to each other. They rallied. I have already spoken about this. There are many people here, like my mother, who did not leave the city, could not leave the city—people of the older generation. My mother, who was born in 1940 and survived the Nazi invasion, could not have imagined that she would live to see the next war.
Aleksey
I am glad that I can share. I can tell about one case: a brother from the church shared an audio recording. He said that his son is in the armed forces, and his unit, one night, they were in their position and held it. They found that many tanks and vehicles of the Russian army were moving toward them, and they could hardly hold their position. He picked up the phone and called his father: “Daddy, you have to pray right now. We are in such a situation.” And so, his father calls the other members of the church, and they began to pray. Then the son called again. He said that a miracle happened. It looked like some kind of spaceship—like an attack from a spaceship. They saw some kind of light. Shooting began from the sky and sparks flew everywhere. In the morning, they found that all this equipment had been destroyed. Now, all these soldiers think that it was some kind of weapon that we don’t know about, or just God’s intervention.
Yevgeniy
