Just before Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, “People were calm, but wary.” Ukrainians “knew something would probably happen, but we didn’t know exactly what.” YWAM Kyiv director Kyle Schlegel explains most people believed whatever Russian forces would do would probably be in the eastern part of Ukraine, near where they had previously seized Crimea in 2014. “Nobody ever thought it would come to Kyiv,” a modern metropolitan area of nearly 4-million.
But war did come to Kyiv and other cities, leading to a mass exodus of people – in the millions - to other regions of Ukraine and to Poland, Romania, and Moldova. Many who evacuated are children and wives, while husbands remain behind to fight for their way of life.
When the first attack from Russia took place February 24, Kyle and his family were back in his native Ohio, far from the danger. “We went through a lot of things. The first emotions were guilt.” They were so far away from their team, friends, and family in Kyiv. Kyle is married to Anya, who is Ukrainian. They were afraid for her parents. And Kyle shares, “Man, why did we not stay?” He described it as “survivor's guilt.”
Now back in country, Kyle has resided in Ukraine for 22 years. “So, I’ve been through two revolutions and now this.” He and Anya are the proud parents of three children, ages 17, 14 and 10, all born in Ukraine. And the kids speak three languages: English, Ukrainian, and Russian. Since Ukraine does not allow dual citizenship, all three children are legally considered American.
About YWAM
YWAM is short for Youth with a Mission, a Christian ministry founded in 1960, now with missions worldwide.
As missiles and then shelling hit Kyiv, YWAM’s first goal was to help with evacuations and to make sure people were fed hot meals from the ministry’s commercial kitchen. That included nursing homes and some military installations. And when the war had moved on from Kyiv, “we’re taking out food bags that will last a family a week-and-a-half, two weeks,” and that’s 600-700 food bags every couple of days. And as they’re able to access areas further east, they’re setting up distribution hubs where YWAM delivers 10-ton trucks of food to people who are cut off by the war.
“This is what Jesus would do … I mean our hearts are breaking.”
Kyle shares a recent experience that really hit him hard. On the road, they picked up a man from Mariupol. “He had been walking for seven days” and getting some rides along the 112-mile journey. “And he’s just broken. He’s got everything that he has on his back, trying to get to his family in western Ukraine – and it’s just like how is this happening? I sat there watching him cry. A 62-year-old man had walked that far just to get out of harm’s way.” Current estimates place the number of civilian lives lost in Mariupol at roughly 20,000!
The circumstances have left many Ukrainians “super open” to hearing the Gospel message. YWAM hands out language-appropriate Bibles along with food. People want to know who Jesus is. “They want to hear about something that will give them hope.” Even for those who already believe in Jesus, Kyle sees that many want to have a deeper relationship with Christ to make their faith walk stronger.
As for the future, Kyle senses many Ukrainians suspect this war will be long and drawn out, “expecting the worst, but planning for the best.” In Kyiv, some things are moving more toward a sort of normal, but “it definitely feels different here.”
For more information, here’s the contact site for YWAM Kyiv.
When we asked Kyle what he would say if he was granted a 10 minute face-to-face with Vladimir Putin, Kyle exhaled hard and admitted, “I’d probably have choice words,” he laughed, and then added “I would say ‘leave them alone, what are you doing?… She’s a great nation. Nobody needs saved here. There’s no Nazi-ism, there’s no fascism. Stop using Ukraine as your little buffer zone in your grudge with the West.’” And he’d tell the Russian president to stop lying to his own people.
So why do we hear two different pronunciations of the Ukrainian capital city, Kyiv and Kiev? Kyle explains the very logical reason in our podcast just below. There are also some very specific prayer needs that Kyle shares, and ways people can help. Give a listen to our full interview:
