For the first time since June, Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

“Several explosions in the Shevchenkivskyi district — in the centre of the capital,” said the capital city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko on 10 October as 19 people were killed and over one hundred wounded. Citizens were urged to run to underground metro stations and other refuges.

Explosions with deaths were also reported on Monday morning in cities such as Odessa, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia (where attack on Sunday left 14 dead), and Lviv, among several others. This attack with 83 missiles would be the heaviest since the early weeks of the invasion in March.  

The night befpre, Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for the explosion of emblematic Kerch bridge, the only connecting Russian territory with the illegally annexed Crimea peninsula.

Moldova denounced that 3 missiles crossed its airspace and summoned the Russian ambassador “to provide an explanation”.

Meanwhile, the President of Belarus and closest ally of Putin, Alexander Lukashenko, accused Ukraine of planning an attack against his country, adding that the Belarussian army was joining Russia in a military force.

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsaola, was among those who condemned what some are calling “war crimes against civilians”.

What is happening now in #Kyiv is sickening.

It shows the world, again, the regime we are faced with: One that targets indiscriminately. One that rains terror & death down on children.

This is criminal. They will be held to account. Ukraine will win. Europe will not look away. pic.twitter.com/0I594UlCMg

— Roberta Metsola (@EP_President) October 10, 2022

China asked that “the situation de-escalates soon”.

Reactions of Christians in Ukraine

Christians in Ukraine denounced the horror of the attacks.

On Facebook, a Christian leader in Ukraine denounced that Russia “destroys because they cannot conquer”, adding a quote from Psalm 36:14-15: “The wicked draw a sword and draw their bow to strike down the needy and the poor, to cut down the people of the simple way, but their sword will enter their own heart, and their bows will be broken!"

Another evangelical pastor in Kyiv quoted chapter 5 of the book of Daniel (in the Bible), where King Belshazzar feasts soon before dying. “The Lord will bring down Babylon. ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, Uparsin’”, the pastor wrote. 

Yet another pastor, also in the main city of Ukraine, wrote: “ The beast is raging... The beast is firing at it again... Let the words of Psalm 31 be our prayer today”.

A mission worker in the region told Protestante Digital: “The danger has increased a lot. Until now, we are being cated for by God. Please, pray”.