Crisis Continues in Ukraine

Helping the Cold and Hungry in Ukraine

Dear Friend,

February marks the fourth anniversary of the start of the conflict in Ukraine. The people there are suffering greatly. Many are without electricity and heat for long stretches each day; some have no power at all. This year’s winter has been brutal—the coldest since the conflict began, with lows below zero as I write this.

Plunged into darkness, many cold and exhausted Ukrainians struggle to survive. Schools in the capital, Kyiv, had to close for weeks in January because they couldn’t keep students warm. Some people wake up at 1 a.m. to do their work when the power flips on and then go back to bed when the blackout starts again at 5 a.m.

Throughout the country, Samaritan’s Purse is working with our church partners to deliver massive amounts of food and also provide many thousands of daily hot meals. Large tents, which we distributed earlier in the conflict, are still being used as hubs where shivering people—young and old—can go to eat, warm up, and charge their phones. In one city, we support a pastor whose church serves more than 600 meals daily, helping residents, displaced people, and those living on the streets (shown above). He said, “From the bottom of my heart, I am deeply grateful to Samaritan’s Purse for everything you have done for us and continue to do. The food you provide is a tremendous help to us in this difficult time.”

We’ve already provided more than 284 million pounds of food in Ukraine, an amount that would fill a line of 18-wheelers stretching 92 miles.

Samaritan’s Purse Canada is also assisting refugees across Europe to access food and receive specialized trauma care. Churches across Poland, Germany, and other countries are being equipped to minister to mothers and children who have been forced to flee their homes while their husbands, fathers, and brothers remain in Ukraine.

Closer to the frontlines, it can be dangerous to even leave your home. At great risk to themselves, church leaders are delivering food and other critical supplies to senior citizens, people who are disabled, and others unable to flee the fighting. These items are packed in specially marked bags we provide that say “God Loves You” in Ukrainian.

Olena, 73, has lived her whole life in the same village in eastern Ukraine. “It is very hard for me,” she says with sadness. Heartbroken when her son was killed, Olena relies on her Christian faith and the food we’ve given her. “Thank you for not forgetting about us,” she said.

Samaritan’s Purse is also providing firewood, thermal blankets, and solar lights—which double as phone-charging power banks—to those in need. We’ve supplied thousands of families with wood-burning stoves. Most important, our teams are distributing copies of God’s Word—1.2 million so far—and working with local churches to tell people about the Light of the World, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sofiia lives with her daughter and three grandchildren in a small border village. This is now their fourth winter suffering without stable electricity. After the family received relief from Samaritan’s Purse, Sofiia said, “This help is not just about survival. We [now] know we are not alone. Thank you for the warmth and the care.”

Samaritan’s Purse has provided more than 33 million gallons of clean water since the war began. We’ve drilled over 50 wells, and local churches continue to bring water to those who can’t travel. I heard about one pastor (pictured above right) who lives near some of the worst fighting, and he had one of our large water tanks placed inside his vehicle. Previously, he would bring water to those in need, but he was badly injured and his van was recently destroyed. Samaritan’s Purse has replaced his van and will also be providing an armored vehicle so he and his church can continue delivering water.

Our mobile medical teams are also active in eastern Ukraine, setting up in small villages or even making home visits to those who cannot get out. We’ve seen more than 4,400 people since 2024, including Maria. She had heart failure, then pneumonia, and could not walk at one point. “I really thought it was time to prepare for death,” she said.

Maria gladly welcomed our medical team to her home. We listened to her questions and provided prescription medication for a month. When the doctor returned, he was pleased to find that Maria had already started walking again. She continues to get stronger and credits our team—and, most important, God’s healing hand!

Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Ukraine. A local partner told us there are “more and more people coming to church, coming to God, and stepping onto the path of service together.”

Our church partners are also reaching boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ through Operation Christmas Child. We’ve been distributing gift-filled shoeboxes in Ukraine for decades and have given out over 2 million boxes since 2022, with more than 400,000 on the way this year. Praise God that we can share the Good News with these children and bring a little joy into their lives during this trying time.

Please remember all of the people who have endured so much during these past four years. Pray for peace and for many to place their faith in Him. Psalm 18:2 tells us: “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Thank you, and may God bless you.

Sincerely,

Franklin Graham

Firewood Brings Warmth, Encouragement

Samaritan’s Purse is supplying much needed wood to help war-weary Ukrainian families survive as temperatures fall.

For many villagers in Ukraine, wood supplies their only heat. As another winter of war approaches, those without it are left to wonder if even after surviving attacks, they will lose the fight to the cold. For a stroke victim, an amputee, and a cancer survivor, the gift of wood from Samaritan’s Purse and its church partners in Ukraine is bringing not only welcome warmth, but the strength to go on.

Showing God is Near

In Feb. 2022, just as the full-scale invasion brought artillery fire near her village, Anna* suffered a stroke. Suddenly life changed. Her mobility was limited and it became a challenge to tend her garden and care for her home and family. Every day since has been a battle.

“After the stroke, I couldn’t walk properly anymore. I couldn’t go outside to get wood. The house would get cold, and I would just lay there, wrapped in every blanket I had,” Anna said.

With wood both heavy to haul and expensive to purchase, Anna struggled to survive.

“I wasn’t expecting anything,” Anna said. “Everyone is in trouble these days. But when the volunteers arrived and started unloading the firewood, I couldn’t hold back my tears. It was like a sign that we are not forgotten, that God remembers us.”

“This wasn’t just fuel. It was warmth. It was dignity. It was hope.”

A Samaritan’s Purse partner noted, “For Anna, this wasn’t just fuel. It was warmth. It was dignity. It was hope. It allowed her to cook, boil water, stay warm, survive—and feel seen.”

Anna could barely put her gratitude into words. “When you’re laying in silence, feeling like no one cares whether you live or die—and then someone knocks on your door and says, ‘We came to help’—your heart warms up. You remember: God is near. He sees. He acts through people.”

Anna is just one recipient of the over 27,000 cords of wood Samaritan’s Purse has distributed since the beginning of the war.

Behind every delivery, there is a story like hers—full of pain, but also full of hope.

“Warmth is not just firewood,” Anna said. “It’s someone remembering you. It’s a door opening and someone with a kind smile saying, ‘We’re here to help.’ And in that moment, your heart feels lighter. I am deeply grateful to everyone who makes this work possible.”

Providing Warmth and Life

When the war reached Borys’* hometown in winter of 2024, he could no longer stand by and watch. He joined the local forces that built fortifications for Ukraine’s military.

“Heavy shelling began while we were working. The team evacuated quickly, but I was left behind. I had to walk to the nearest settlement through freezing conditions. By the time I arrived, I had lost all feeling in my toes.”

Doctors informed Borys that amputation was his only option. After being discharged from the hospital after the procedure, he moved to a new city away from the fighting. But there he found himself alone, with no family, no home, and limited mobility.

Through kind strangers, he received a woodstove to help him survive. “But I had no way to obtain firewood—not physically, not financially,” Borys said.

That’s when Samaritan’s Purse and a local church came to his aid with firewood to heat his shelter, and a blackout kit containing a flashlight, bucket, thermos, power bank, hand warmers, blankets, and a Bible to help him amid the frequent power cuts. This support allowed him to find strength.

“Because of your help, I will be able to get through the winter. I thank God for you.”

“It’s not just firewood. It’s warmth—it’s life,” Borys said. “Because of your help, I will be able to get through the winter. I thank God for you. May He bless you abundantly!”

This support provided Borys the important reminder that he was not forgotten and that he still matters.

“Your kindness has had a profound impact on people like me,” Borys said. “You bring light to dark places. I now feel that my life has meaning again.”

Giving the Strength to Keep Going

While war raged around her, Olena’s* faith was tested in numerous ways. The devout Christian and regular attender of a local Baptist church was diagnosed with cancer. She prayed fervently asking for healing and held tight to God’s promises. In time, relief came.

“Today I am in remission,” she said with a smile. “I believe God carried me through it all. I felt support—from the church, from my family, even from strangers. And today, I am not just healed—I am renewed.”

But her troubles did not end after the cancer hurdle was crossed. As the primary caregiver of her disabled son, Olena still faced physical limitations and financial difficulties.

But when Samaritan’s Purse delivered the family a load of firewood, she saw it as an answer to many long nights of prayer.

“God did not leave me,” she said. “Even when I saw no way out—He was there. And He sent people who came to help us.

“Now I know I am not alone—and that gives me strength to keep going.”

Please pray for Ukrainians. Ask God to preserve life and show many His love during this difficult time.

*Name changed for security

Hope for Ukrainian Farmers

For more than two decades, Oleksiy’s* family has worked the land in Ukraine, facing the relentless challenges of nature—harsh winter frosts and scorching summers that threatened their harvests.

But nothing could have prepared them for the hardship they endured in spring 2022. Russia targeted their village, leaving 95 percent of the structures in ruins.

Even amid the ashes of what was once the family’s homestead, Oleksiy and his wife refused to give up hope and started rebuilding. We praise God that Samaritan’s Purse was able to refurbish Oleksiy’s storage facility, restoring its capacity to hold 1,000 tons of grain. Oleksiy has now planted wheat and sunflowers, full of hope for the harvest because he now has somewhere to store his crops.

“Your help is nothing short of a miracle,” Oleksiy said. “When war engulfs your country, such support feels like divine intervention. That’s why we look to the future with even greater hope. God is here—His presence is undeniable.”

For Serhiy,* Russian soldiers not only left his village in ruins but they also scattered landmines across the farmland and residential areas.

“There is darkness here—at the beginning of the war everything was leveled,” Serhiy said sadly, remembering the new grain storehouse he had built right before Russia invaded. “This demolished storehouse represented half of my life’s work. You can’t even imagine how important this was to me.”

Samaritan’s Purse came to their aid by repairing Serhiy’s grain storehouse so he and his family can continue to provide much needed food to others who have suffered as they have. This help has given Serhiy hope and newfound motivation for life.

“YOU CAN’T EVEN IMAGINE HOW IMPORTANT THIS WAS TO ME.” – SERHIY

“I am grateful to God that we are still holding on, standing strong, and recovering after the destruction,” Serhiy said.

For Oleksiy, Serhiy, and other Ukrainian farmers, the restoration of grain storehouses stands as a symbol of resilience and hope for a better future—a reminder that they are not alone in their adversity. Please pray for these farmers to persevere and enjoy God’s protection despite the difficulties around them. Ask also that the Lord would grant them a bumper crop that will feed their desperate nation.

*Names changed for security.

Healing for Ukrainian Children

Matvi* was only 4 years old when Russian tanks rumbled past his home in Sumy, Ukraine.

“We hid in a cold basement ... trembling, whispering prayers, hoping it would all end soon,” said his mother Katya.*

But the hardest test of faith came when a corridor opened for children to travel out of the war zone. “We had to make the most terrifying, heart-wrenching decision of our lives,” said Katya. In anguish, she and her husband watched the evacuation bus drive away with their only child onboard.

“I can still see Matvi’s tear-filled eyes as he reached out his little hands, sobbing, ‘Mommy, don’t leave me!’” Katya said. “But I clung to one thought: our brothers in Christ would meet him and take care of him. The most important thing was that his life would be saved.”

One month later, after tirelessly praying and searching, Katya and her husband were reunited with Matvi in Romania. The family now lives in Germany, and their son is 8 years old.

“Children who have seen the horrors of war, even when they come to a peaceful country, still carry the fear of war in their hearts,” said our local church partner.

In 2024, friends like you made it possible to provide trauma care to 5,545 Ukrainian children and 3,528 adults across 15 European countries. That includes Matvi, who was struggling with anger and separation anxiety. He not only experienced emotional healing but also found a friend in Jesus Christ through the Upanchyk teddy bear program.

“Upanchyk in the New Forest” is a book that comes with a stuffed teddy bear and tells the story of Upanchyk, a bear whose forest home is destroyed by fire. It is written for Ukrainian children. The Christian workers we train and support use the book and bear to help children like Matvi heal from the spiritual and emotional wounds of war.

Every night as Matvi hugs his special bear, Katya reads him the companion book. “Matvi is happy that Upanchyk’s story has a happy ending,” she said. “He says, ‘Mom, that means I will be OK too!’” Matvi even prayed: “Jesus, help me to be as kind as Upanchyk.”

“I thank God for His mercy, for His care, for the people He placed on our path who helped us survive,” said Katya. “May our story be a testament that even after the darkest night, the light always comes.”

*Names changed for security.

Good News Through The Greatest Journey

Sophia came home each week from The Greatest Journey course with a new Bible story to share with her mom, Sveta. Even as war has rumbled across Ukraine, thousands of churches have been delivering Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts and teaching the 12 follow-up discipleship lessons of The Greatest Journey.

Though Sophia and Sveta were far from their real home in eastern Ukraine—where the war raged—they found hope in the stories about Jesus in Sophia’s workbook. They were unlike anything the two had ever read.

When Sophia and her mom connected with a church near Kyiv, where the family resettled, “[they] knew nothing about God,” our partner shared. The church cared for their needs, something Samaritan’s Purse helped thousands of congregations do for displaced Ukrainians, by delivering food, water, shelter, and medical care.

“THIS IS HOW SOPHIA AND HER MOTHER MET GOD.”

The church also delivered shoebox gifts and invited Sophia and other children to attend The Greatest Journey. “This is how Sophia and her mother met God and the Bible,” our partner said.

At each class, Sophia shared how she had read the previous lesson and completed each activity with her mom at home. Sveta also started coming to Sunday services. “Let’s pray and hope that this family will continue to attend church, study God’s Word, and invite Christ into their hearts,” our partner shared.

As more children receive shoebox gifts in Ukraine and attend The Greatest Journey, pray that they will know “the God of peace” (1 Thessalonians 5:23, ESV).