Pray for Ukraine

Nearly 3 million people live in the capital city of Ukraine, Kiev.

Christianity in Ukraine A nationwide survey indicated that 75% of the people in Ukraine believe in God. About a third of the population identify with one of the Eastern Orthodox denominations. Those indicating that they are Protestant are about 2% of the population with the largest group being the Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine with about 150,000 members and 3000 pastors. It is this denomination that the current president comes from. Oleksandr Turchynov, the acting president of Ukraine, is a pastor of an Evangelical Baptist congregation.

Language Percentage of native Ukrainian speakers Percentage of native Russian speakers

The origins of Ukraine Ukraine and Russia have their origins in the Rus people group who were a group of Norse invaders. The word ‘Rus’ from which the name Russia comes seems to mean ‘the rowers’. They were a kind of European Viking group who eventually captured Kiev in about AD880. The Golden Age of the Kievan Rus began with Vladimir the Great. He conquered the region including Kiev. In 988 he converted to Christianity and sought to Christianize his people. During the reign of his son, Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054), the Kievan Rus reached the zenith of its cultural development and military power. A gold coin from the period of Vladimir the Great

Foreign domination Following the ‘Golden Age’ of the Kievan Rus there came a long period of foreign domination. The area was influenced by Poland and Lithuania on the east, the Ottoman empire and the Crimean Khanate in the south and then the Russian empire on the east.

Crimean War The Crimean War arose as a result of British and French unwillingness for the Russian empire to gain territory at the expense of the declining Ottoman empire. The Russians held their fortress at Sevastopol for over a year. After it fell the Russians had lost the War and a peace was negotiated. The Crimean war is remembered especially because of the work of Florence Nightingale and the charge of the Light Brigade. 'Forward, the Light Brigade!' Was there a man dismay'd? Not tho' the soldiers knew Some one had blunder'd: Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. Alfred, Lord Tennyson Florence Nightingale

The Cossacks Originating in the 13 th century these were semi-military communities located in Ukraine and southern Russia. Allied with Tsarist Russia they acted as a buffer on the southern and western borders of the Russian empire. Because of their military tradition the Cossacks have played an important part in Russia’s wars of the 18 th -20 th centuries. The Cossacks generally have an Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition.

World War 1 and revolution Nationalism and socialism developed in the 19 th century in Ukraine. Ukraine was divided in its loyalties during WW1. Parts of Ukraine were allied with the Central powers whereas other parts sided with Russia, France and the United Kingdom. After WW1 the Russian empire collapsed and the revolution of 1917 took place. In Ukraine a nationalist socialist movement pushed for self determination for Ukraine. Poland attacked from the west but failed to take Kiev from the Bolshevics. Western Ukraine was incorporated into Poland and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was recognised in 1919 and joined the USSR in 1922.

World War 2 Following the invasion of Poland in 1939 German and Russian forces divided the territories of Poland. The western areas of Ukraine were reunited with the eastern region and the modern state of Ukraine was born. With the advance of the Nazi army Kiev was encircled and the local population fought heroically with the remaining Russian Red Army. Of the estimated 8.7 million Soviet troops who fell in battle against the Nazis,1.4 million were ethnic Ukrainians. Victory Day is celebrated as one of ten Ukrainian national holidays. More than 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages were destroyed as a result of the war.

Khrushchev was born in the Russian village of Kalinovka in 1894, close to the present-day border between Russia and Ukraine. In 1939, Stalin sent him to govern Ukraine, and he continued Stalin’s purges there. Following the death of Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader of the USSR. He emphasized the friendship between Ukraine and Russia. In 1954 Crimea was transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.

Carter and Brezhnev sign the SALT II treaty, 18 June 1979, in Vienna. Many members of the Soviet leadership came from Ukraine, most notably Leonid Brezhnev. He later ousted Khrushchev and became the Soviet leader from 1964 to 1982.

The Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, a reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, resulting in the Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history.

On 24 August 1991 the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Act of Independence in which the parliament declared that Ukraine was an independent democratic state. This began a period of confrontation between the authority of the new republic and the authorities in Moscow. A referendum and the first presidential elections took place on 1 December That day, more than 90% of the electorate expressed their support for the Act of Independence and elected the chairman of the parliament, Leonid Kravchuk, to serve as the first president of the country. During the recession, Ukraine lost 60% of its GDP from 1991 to The Ukrainian economy stabilized by the end of the 1990s. Since 2000, the country has enjoyed steady real economic growth averaging about 7% annually.

Orange revolution In 2004, Viktor Yanukovych, then Prime Minister, was declared the winner of the presidential elections, which had been largely rigged. This result caused a public outcry in support of the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, who challenged the outcome of the elections. This resulted in the peaceful Orange Revolution, bringing Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko to power, with Viktor Yanukovych in opposition. Yanukovych returned to a position of power in 2006, when he became Prime Minister in the Alliance of National Unity, until snap elections in September 2007 made Tymoshenko Prime Minister again. Yulia TymoshenkoViktor YanukovychViktor Yushchenko

Euromaidan The Euromaidan (Ukrainian literally ‘Eurosquare’) protests started in November 2013, after then president Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union, describing it as disadvantageous to Ukraine. Violence escalated after 16 January 2014 when the government accepted Anti-Protest Laws. Yanukovych left the capital on 21 February, the night before he was voted out of office, fleeing to Kharkiv first, then Crimea, and finally to southern Russia. A warrant for his arrest was issued on 24 February, accusing him of ‘mass killing of civilians’. On 1 March Vladimir Putin received parliamentary authorization to deploy Russian troops to Ukraine and now have complete control over Crimea. A Crimean autonomy referendum is scheduled to be held on 16 March 2014.

The Crimea hosts many seaside resorts and historic sites.

Several pastors now pray at 7.00am in Central Square each morning

Pray for Ukraine Pray for restraint and wisdom for the politicians and soldiers in Ukraine. Pray that a settlement of this unstable situation may provide increasing opportunity and spread of the gospel in Ukraine. Pray for so many who are dominated by the often external and formal adherence to the Orthodox churches in Ukraine. Pray for the growth of the evangelical churches in Ukraine and for the planting of new congregations. Pray for Oleksandr Turchynov, the acting president of Ukraine, a pastor of an Evangelical Baptist congregation.