War Widow Ministry

“This is a story from Alexander, a pastor from Vinnitsia region.  He shares about a widow named Anna.  She and her family are believers from Kherson, Ukraine.  

In 2013, Dmytro and Anna got married, and a year later her husband was taken away to the war in Donbas (ATO). It was when their first son Michael was born. And since then, for 8 years, Dmytro had been a defender of our country.

Dmytro was killed in February 2022. His younger son Andrew was still under the age of 6. Dmytro was only 38 years old. Six months before the full-scale Russian invasion, Anna’s mother died. She was only 60 years old… And even earlier, this faithful family was placed in a situation where there was a need to adopt Anna’s nephew Artem, who is now 14 years old.

Later, the family faced nine difficult and extremely dangerous months of occupation. When there was heavy shelling in Kherson, the family was hiding in the basement. Most of all, Anna was worried about her children. She prayed that they would be able to psychologically withstand these terrible days and nights, which were very difficult. Her nephew Artem said he would never leave the basement until the war was over. And her son Michael, on the contrary, said that he wanted to come out of the basement to be killed because he could not stand it anymore. The children are still deeply traumatized by everything they have experienced.

The house they lived in, along with the entire neighborhood, suffered three major destructions: 

– First, the Russians bombed and shelled the place;

– then, in June 2023, they were flooded when the enemy destroyed the Kakhovka dam;

– and recently, their area has been constantly attacked with various flammable mixtures.

Therefore, for almost 2 years, Anna and her family had been forced to live in the house of other people in other parts of the city until the day that they were forced to leave Kherson. 

The Lord lead their way to the Vinnytsia region, and they moved to a village 100 kilometers from Vinnytsia (Mohyliv-Podilskyi district). This happened in the fall of 2024. The house they settled in had not been in use for 20 years. It is clear to them that starting life over is not an easy thing to do. They need to equip their home, repair the heating system, prepare firewood for the winter, organize children’s schooling, buy food, and many other urgent daily needs. However, they are very grateful to God that He saved their lives, helped them survive the occupation, and helped them find nice people who risked their lives to take them to a safe place.