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Child Cries 'Mama, Boom,' in Ukraine's War-Torn 'Gray Zone'

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In war-torn Ukraine, evangelical missionaries are reaching out in places like Maryinka, a town held by Ukrainian forces outside the rebel capital of Donetsk.

Even though a year-old cease-fire is in place, Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists continue their almost forgotten battle in towns like this one.

The fighting, however, isn't stopping several well-organized evangelical groups. They're helping residents who live in what Ukrainians call the "gray zone," an area between or close to where government troops and Russian-backed rebels are positioned.


CBN's Orphans Promise is working through churches to provide food and other needs. Click play to hear Nataliya Khomyak of Orphan's Promise talk more about their work.

About half of the population before war broke out still live in Maryinka. That includes around 6,000 civilians and 350 children.

Life involves moving rapidly across streets to avoid the high-powered sniper rifles of the separatists. Residents also spend time hauling firewood, standing in lines for free bread and groceries, and sleeping in root cellars.

Maryinka does not have natural gas or hot water, like many towns in the gray zone. Municipal workers do not want to risk their lives to fix the pipes torn by shelling.

Lt. Col. Mikhailo M. Prokopiv, the Ukrainian commander in the town, told the New York Times that fighting happens every so often during the day while monitors with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe patrol the area.

He said when they leave, the heavy fire begins. Mortar bombs consistently go beyond the military positions and pummel the town.

"My child is afraid," Maryinka resident Natasha O. Ivanenko told the New York Times.

"He says, 'Mama, boom.' And I say, 'Yes, Seryozha, boom, boom.'"

Evangelical missionaries began to arrive last summer after the Ukrainian Army fought back a large assault by rebels. They share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and provide humanitarian help.

"When Jesus was on Earth, he fed people and people followed him for that reason, too," missionary Lyubov V. Shpikhernyuk said. "When fear comes, people are open to God," she continued, referencing this time of war.

On the Ukrainian side of the border, the missionaries have combined aid distribution areas and churches in 10 towns, according to Sergei N. Kosyak.

Kosyak leads the site in Maryinka, known as the Christian Aid Center of the Transfiguration Church. He believes over a year's time, 600 people have attended regular church services.

Evangelical churches in the United States are helping to financially support the missionaries, who all speak Russian. The missionaries are from Ukraine or other states of the former Soviet Union.

In the city of Slovyansk, north of Maryinka, the Good News Church started a school to train missionaries to minister along the 300-mile front of the war zone.

Pro-Russian rebels used to control Slovyansk. They arrested and forced evangelicals to leave. After Ukrainian forces won it back, the missionaries returned.

Kosyak's congregation in Maryinka started with two people in July; it has grown to 70. The Christian Aid Center of the Transfiguration Church has a bakery, a church choir, and provides a variety of services, like delivering firewood.

The priest at the Orthodox Church of the Kazan Virgin in Maryinka, the Rev. Sergi Geiko, said he did not approve of drawing in doubters to God with material rewards, like groceries or bread. He also said the people from other countries supporting the missionaries are trespassing in Orthodox land.

"This is not only a political war, but a spiritual war," Father Geiko said. "This is a crusade. The West is helping them."

"He thinks we are competitors, and that the people of Maryinka are his property," Kosyak countered, referring to Geiko.

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