Those of you who receive my printed news letter may remember the young couple, that I mentioned in our last newsletter – she fled Ukraine into Poland. The husband managed to escape and stumbled on foot for days to Slovakia. He managed to find his wife, who had been waiting for him in Poland. She was pregnant with their first child. They now live in Trondheim, Norway, where they have found safety and a purpose.

She has just given birth to a beautiful baby! Out of devastation and hopelessness has come a beautiful result – the safe birth of a beautiful baby boy, who is going to live in safety – with our help, until the husband can find a good job. Until he is fully registered as a refugee (which Sasha, our manager, is trying to push through at present) he won’t be able to apply for work. Their story is one of many, a reminder that even in the darkest of times, faith can light the way forward. Your gifts have helped with vital issues like this. God bless you richly.

Jesus was a refugee as a child

I’m reminded another beautiful birth just over 2000 years ago – the birth of Jesus. Jesus was a refugee as well – being born away from his home in Nazareth, having to flee with his parents from Bethlehem to Egypt – living in Egypt for a number of years – coming back to Palestine and living in Nazareth, because it was still dangerous in Bethlehem. I often encourage the refugees whom we’ve been able to evacuate from the war zones in Ukraine, to other countries, Jesus knows what you’re going through. He’s been through the loneliness and turmoil you’re experiencing, and he’ll carry you through your difficulties.

Attack on Kyiv

Last week there were 8 consecutive hours of a drone attacks on Kyiv triggering the alarm sirens to sound for all of that time. It was one of the most extensive drone attacks to date that Russia has carried out one of the most extensive drone attacks.

Russia appears to have learnt that many drones in the skies at one time overcomes the detection systems, rather like ‘Hamas’ and Israel. Russia was continuing it gaols to “knock out” Ukraine’s defence systems, power and heating systems before winter really closes in. Many of the older buildings/suburbs and towns in the Ukraine are supplied with heating in the winter from a central source. Damage was caused to several buildings, including a hospital, regrettably damage is also caused from the falling debris of a drone or missile that has been neutralised by the Ukrainian defences.

During the length of the attack people were huddled in shelters, the subway train station are used as shelters and are packed out with people. I remember in previous years when conducting seminars and ministering the gospel in universities, academies, the Ministry of Sport and many military bases, we had to catch trains across the city of Kyiv and used these subways. They were like museums with ancient paintings and intricate mosaics on the walls and roof.

The Ukrainian attack on the weapons storage facilities in Bryansk, Russia, had already been undertaken, it is said with the American long-range missiles. Will Putin respond with nuclear? A Kremlin spokesman: “Ukraine’s use of non-nuclear missiles against Russia could lead to a nuclear response from Russia, according to the newly approved nuclear doctrine”. Putin has said that if Ukraine uses long-range missiles supplied by the USA (a nuclear nation) then Russia has license to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine (He has also threatened countries supplying long range weapons to Ukraine). What a warped sense of reason. If Russia uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine, then the radiation fallout is going to kill most of south-western Russia. They’ll call that “unfortunate collateral war damage”.

Odesa also under severe attack

Odesa, including its port area which is used to export rain to Africa, has also been severely attacked drones, missiles. The dead and wounded were lying in the streets. There is now a reduced supply of electricity in Odesa and it is turned on in areas or times of need. So, when they have an electricity outage many people line up at a the charging points that have been established for charging phones. Thank the Lord that we were able to install generators we bought in Sweden for the House of Hope last year. We have our own electricity.

See Postscript

Due to the continuing aggression towards the Ukraine and its people we will not publish on the website photographs that either identify people ( we will use silhouettes of the people and have removed any embedded data) or locations, similarly towns, other than those regularly mentioned by the media will not be named. Some names have also been changed in this report.

If you receive a direct copy of our news letters please do not re-publish any part to social media. Thank you for your understanding.

Please pray for the safety of the House of Hope in the Odesa

There are many needy single-mother families, orphans and homeless children living and taking shelter there at present. Many of you dear friends have been supporting us with this vital project and the development of the House of Hope from the beginning – from the old farmhouse that was accommodating 20 children in 2012, to the beautiful big refuge that can shelter 200 children and poor families in 2024. It has close on that number there at present. Please stand with us in support and prayer for all the needs that we have for this present very cold winter.

Needy poor families in Odesa Province who need help this winter

There are many more, but these are some of the poor families that desperately need help during the severe winter that has already arrived in Ukraine. The bomb and drone attacks are making it incredibly difficult. We want to make it a little easier to survive the cold (currently daytime temperatures are around 4 deg C  and overnight is often -2deg C) and the winter illnesses that take a terrible toll.

Just a few of those we support are:
Valarie and her husband were set free from alcoholism a few years ago and are now working hard, trying to invest in their children and their future. They are working in the fields during the summer, but in the winter, work is scarce. Then there is Judith with four children and Tina, a single mother also with 4 young children. As well as those detailed below.

Budget for the Christmas Season

Thank you for the encouragement you are to us, and thousands of needy people through us. Please continue to stand with us in prayer and support for these needs.
Yours in the Spirit of Rescue,

           Dave and Margurita

The love of Christ compels us

If you would like to donate to help these needy children, please use this link

or the one above to make a safe donation by credit card or PayPal.

POST SCRIPT:

Since Dave wrote the above report the following was posted in local Odesa News (dumskaya.net), please note that this is a translation by Google:

"A record number of Shahed-type strike UAVs and drones of an unspecified type were released by the enemy over the territory of our country since the evening of November 25.