'They Came Into Our House with Machine Guns': Ukrainian Family Tells of Narrow Escape from Russian Troops

Vitalina Zhinotka says she'll never forget the day Russian soldiers first appeared on her street. 

"We saw them approaching from our basement through a crack in the window," she said.

Zhinotka, her husband, and two sons are from Ukraine's southern city of Kherson. On March 11, nine days after seizing control of Kherson, Russian troops started fanning out to outlying villages like Zhinotka's.

"They came into our house with machine guns. They didn't even bother to take their shoes off," she told CBN News.

Zhinotka said the men were drunk and started intimidating her husband and 18-year-old son. "I felt like my heart was being squeezed; it felt like my soul was being squeezed, and it was even very hard to breathe because I was so fearful," she said.

She slipped into an adjacent room where her mother and 13-year-old son were and whispered to them to pray. "I told my mom to pray that God would rescue us.

The Russians demanded to see their passports. "They were looking at our documents and trying to make sense of them, but they couldn't because they were drunk."

Zhinotka says their desperate prayers were suddenly answered. "They were still walking around the house, pointing their gun at us, and praise God, they just left."

Zhinotka and her family were under heavy fire as Ukrainian forces attempted to retake Kherson. They headed west from Kherson to Ternopil where CBN's Orphan's Promise runs a training center for children. It's now been converted to shelter fleeing refugees.

"We are truly thankful for them hosting us, it's very comfortable, it's a very warm atmosphere. We were fed well. It's an amazing work that they are doing, a huge work," she said.

***Click HERE to help Orphan's Promise help Ukrainians***

The staff at Ternopil Training Center began gathering supplies within hours of war erupting.

"It started with us bringing our own mattresses from home. We had six to start with and were ready to host 10 people. The next day, we received more mattresses and we were ready to host another 35 refugees," said Yuriy Mamas, a staff member of the Ternopil Training Center.

Orphan's Promise bought this two-story building in 2014 with the goal of reaching children and their families with the gospel. They held English classes Monday through Thursday and taught Bible lessons using CBN's Super Book on Fridays.

Some 230 children and young adults showed up every week. "We would teach them about God's love and the meaning of Christ's coming and resurrection," staff member Lilya Bachinska told us.

War has the students now taking classes online. Staff members also hold regular online prayer meetings and counseling sessions when needed. 

"The fact that we can continue these lessons online brings peace to both us and them. We also hold zoom prayers for Ukraine. We divide the kids into groups to pray for specific regions of the country that need the most prayers," she said.

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As refugees poured in, neighbors who lived around the Orphan's Promise center started pitching in. Some cooked. Others brought supplies. Parents with children at the center also got involved.

"All of that coming together, we sensed unity like never before. We united in a cause of helping people, serving people because they have needs," staff member Zhenya Chekushkin said.

The city of Ternopil in the western part of Ukraine has been sort of a rest stop for those who are making their way out of the country. According to the latest statistics from the center, they say close to about 600 people have passed through their doors since the start of the war.

The majority of them, like a 17-year-old named Anastasia, have stayed at the Orphan's Promise center for a night or two. She fled from Sumy, northeast of Kyiv, where Ukrainian forces are launching fierce counterattacks against Russian forces. "I hope I will wake up from this nightmare soon and it will be all over," she told us.

Zhinotka's family will now head further west in the morning to stay with friends. "Staying here at the Orphan's Promise center is an example of how Ukraine has become one family," she said.

Yet there's no place she'd rather be than home. "I really want to go back, but I'm afraid. It would be very painful because everything is destroyed and I don't know if I can handle that right now," she said.

You can make a donation HERE to help Orphan's Promise help Ukrainian refugees.