Eric Moore’s windows rattled as Ukraine’s air defense systems intercepted hundreds of incoming drones and missiles early Saturday. The South Dakota native and director of Kyiv Christian Academy spent three hours huddled in the stairwell of his townhouse with his wife and two sons, ages 7 and 9, during the most intense period of the attack.
Around 6 a.m., near the end of the nearly 10-hour bombardment, the school’s night security guard called. A drone had struck the grounds, blowing out 75 windows and leaving a crater 6 feet wide and 4 feet deep in the front lawn. The guard was patrolling the back of the property and escaped injury.
The K-12 school serves 47 students and shares its building with a private elementary school of 140 children. Moore surveyed the damage when it was safe to leave his home a few hours later.
“People were standing around, taking in the scene,” he told Christianity Today. “A dodgeball tournament had been scheduled for that morning by [the Christian group] Athletes in Action.”
The attack on the capital city left 3 dead and 29 injured while cutting power to the western half of the city. It calls into question the Kremlin’s commitment to ongoing peace talks.
“While everyone is discussing points of peace plans, Russia continues to pursue its ‘war plan’ of two points: to kill and destroy,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote on X.
After months of failed negotiations, Washington launched a new wave of diplomacy that began with a controversial 28-point peace plan, leaked by Axios in mid-November. The proposal made major concessions to Russia, including requiring Ukraine to cede land beyond the roughly 20 percent Russia currently occupies; shrink its army from around 800,000 to 600,000; and abandon all efforts to join NATO.
Ukraine and its European allies sharply criticized the plan, warning that insufficient security guarantees will invite the Kremlin to rearm and launch another invasion in the near future.
On Sunday, Ukrainian officials met in Florida to revise the plan with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The next day, Witkoff and Kushner flew to Moscow for talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said the revised plan “looks better,” though Putin signaled his displeasure and blamed Europe for amendments he called “absolutely unacceptable.” He warned that Russia is ready to go to war with European states if attacked.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the revised draft increases the cap on Ukraine’s military personnel to its current strength, defers land negotiations to “discussion between the leaders of the US and Ukraine,” and softens the language on NATO membership.
“Being tired doesn’t mean we’re ready to give up,” said Maia Mikhaluk, a pastor’s wife who lives in Kyiv and has helped plant churches across Ukraine for the past 18 years. She believes the original plan handed the Kremlin its “Christmas wish list” and provided “nothing that is good for Ukraine.”
If Moscow’s land grabs are legitimized or expanded, many of the Mikhaluks’ 27 church plants across the country will be in danger, she noted. “We have pastors in our network who would have to flee from the areas occupied by Russians, because if they stay, they’ll be slaughtered,” she said.
According to a Mission Eurasia report, Russian soldiers have killed more than a dozen priests and pastors in Ukraine since the war began. The organization’s president, Sergey Rakhuba, told CT that the Kremlin’s seizure of churches and detention of pastors in Russia-occupied regions should serve as a warning for what could happen nationwide if Ukraine’s security guarantees are sidelined in negotiations.
“This will happen with all of Ukraine if you give Putin a chance,” Rakhuba said. “He’s not going to stop with this so-called peace deal.”
Other unresolved issues in the framework include the future of Ukrainian elections and the fate of nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children that Russia abducted and subjected to indoctrination.
Despite the uncertainty and near-daily attacks on civilians, churches remain full and Christians continue serving with resilience, Rakhuba said. “I have not seen such a powerful movement of God in the countries of the former Soviet Union in my missional memory,” he added.
Last month, Mission Eurasia hosted its third annual volunteer forum, bringing together hundreds of Christians to share best practices and resources. The organization also provided wood-burning stoves for volunteers to deliver to Ukrainians whose homes were damaged by the ongoing war.
Ministries face new obstacles as well. Mikhaluk said Russian drones have become more accurate and deadly in recent months and are targeting humanitarian aid vans. Her church halted its aid deliveries to Kherson and Donetsk due to the increased risk. Some Ukrainian cities have even draped large fishing nets over their streets to trap drones aimed at vehicles and pedestrians.
Still, ministry work continues. Moore spent the weekend with more than 100 volunteers cleaning up glass and installing temporary windows at Kyiv Christian Academy. Classes resumed on Tuesday, and the school launched a campaign to raise money for new windows.
Mission Eurasia volunteers continue delivering food parcels to families in need and sharing messages of hope to marginalized communities. The group has delivered more than 300,000 food packages this year.
Mikhaluk’s church, a member of the Association of Missionary
Evangelical Churches of Ukraine, has redirected its frontline aid efforts to internally displaced people around Kyiv who need firewood, blankets, and other necessities as temperatures drop. She said Moscow has intensified its attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure, and many fear this winter could be the most difficult since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began nearly four years ago.
The outcome of this week’s peace talks remains uncertain, but Mikhaluk said she knows where her hope lies. “God has always been very close and very real in those dark times,” Mikhaluk said. “When you’re completely stripped of whatever false securities you had—that, I think, is when we’re closest with God.”
Related
