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“UKRAINE COUNCIL OF EVANGELICAL PROTESTANT CHURCHES
3, Oniksevycha str. Kyiv 03115, Ukraine, http://www.repcu.org,
March 26th, 2024

The Honorable Mike Johnson Speaker of the House H-232, The Capitol Washington, DC 20515

Dear Speaker Johnson,

Christianity and Christian values have been spread in Ukraine for the last 1000 years. As soon as Ukraine restored its independence in 1991, God gave our country a chance for a remarkable awakening—thousands of new churches were planted, dozens of seminaries and Bible schools were established, and thousands of missionaries went to numerous countries. In almost every city and town, we now have Christian summer camps where the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed. Ukraine has become a hub for Evangelical missions and awakening for the entire post-Soviet area.

Ukraine makes enormous efforts to break away from the godless Soviet past with its totalitarianism and tyranny of communism. Evil spirits of darkness, however, are pushing Kremlin leaders to forcefully claim Ukraine once again, capture us into their empire, and destroy Ukrainian spiritual treasures. Contrary to the narrative being advanced in some circles throughout the United States today, Russia does not stand for Christian conservative values.

Over the last two years, the world has watched while Russian Armed Forces have committed cruel atrocities in cities like Bucha, Izium, Kharkiv, and many other places, while explicitly targeting Evangelical churches in the occupied territories. Under the direction of Vladimir Putin, Russian soldiers are destroying churches, threatening parishioners, and arresting ministers of the gospel. On February 28, 2024, a Russian bomb destroyed a church building in the East of Ukraine, killing an Evangelical pastor. In the early morning of March 2, 2024, Russian drones made in Iran hit a high-rise apartment building in the South of Ukraine, killing 12 individuals. There were five little children among those victims, including an Evangelical pastor’s daughter and her infant son. We have lots of stories like that. Someone gets killed every day, children are scared and hurting, and the enemy keeps turning our beautiful cities and towns into ruins.

Speaker Johnson, the Evangelical churches of Ukraine need your vote and help today.

Russian invaders are destroying us. As Evangelicals, we are being accused of working for the interests of the American Government. Every Evangelical Christian has become a target for the Russian FSB on the occupied territories. Just recently, The Orthodox Church of Russia recently adopted a document using pro-life rhetoric but endorsing further take over all the lands of their liking. And the mentioned document adopted by the Russian orthodox church advocates atrocities, and further invasion, contrasting Russia and the “rotten West” (to be understood as democracy).

We ask for your prayers and action on behalf of 8,000 Evangelical churches in Ukraine.

Without military help, many of our brothers and sisters in Christ will die. Yes, the Lord is our hope, but we need you to act. We ask you to vote without delay and approve a military and economic help package.

We thank you for your vote to rescue Ukraine. As you plan your next trip to Ukraine, we kindly ask you to make time to meet with the leaders of Ukrainian Evangelical and Protestant churches. This is very important to us in the current circumstances.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Rev. Anatoliy Kozachok Acting Chairman of the Ukraine Council of Evangelical and Protestant churches, Senior Bishop of Ukrainian Pentecostal Church” https://web.archive.org/web/20240420061404/https://www.defendersoffaithukraine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Letter_to_Speaker_Johnson.pdf (As a letter to the US House Speaker, it is public domain.) EMPHASIS OUR OWN.