1. PRAY FOR PEACE TALKS ON RUSSIA/UKRAINE WAR.
There is a flurry of diplomatic activity on peace negotiations on the war in Ukraine.
We seek your prayer for this time that God will bring about peace in Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine began in 2014 with the Russian annexation of Crimea after the Ukrainian people protested against the pro-Russian president in the Euromaidan Revolution.
This led to a conflict with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, a full-scale invasion in 2022, and an ongoing war that has lasted over 11 years which has cost over 1.5 million casualties.
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE:
According to the Operation World, Ukraine’s location as a gateway between East and West has always left it in a vulnerable position. The Russian invasion of 2022, Russian support of the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, the occupation of the Crimea and the Euromaidan of 2014, and the Orange Revolution of 2004-5 all demonstrate Russia’s determination to dominate Ukraine.
They also equally demonstrate Ukraine’s determination to be free. Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced, and hundreds of thousands have been killed. Whenever the conflict ends – and on whatever terms it ends – rebuilding from the devastation will take years, or even decades. Even more complicated will be the healing of trauma experienced and, hopefully, an eventual reconciliation with its neighbour.
CASUALTIES OF WAR:
According to the British Ministry of Defence, more than one million Russian troops have been killed or injured and Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimates puts Russian military deaths at up to 250,000 and total casualties, including the wounded, at over 950,000.
Ukraine has suffered very high losses as well, with between 60,000 and 100,000 personnel killed and total casualties reaching approximately 400,000.
Such loss of life and valuable souls is tragic and sadly, both nations claim to be Christian (Orthodox) nations. Christians around the world must pray that God will bring about peace in this situation.
Pray for Peace:
- Pray for the intervention by “God who makes wars cease to the ends of the earth and who breaks the bow and shatters the spear!” (Psalm 46:9).
- Pray Psalm 10:17-18 over Ukraine – that the Lord would hear the desire of the afflicted, encourage them, and listen to their cries.
- Pray for wisdom from above, and divine fortitude for Ukraine’s leaders and its people.
- Pray that the peace negotiations will be successful and that there will be end to hostilities.
- Pray for the families affected by war in both Russia and Ukraine.
‘You, Lord , hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.’
Psalms 10:17-18
PRAY FOR PEACE IN DRC CONGO.
Last week the U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Congolese and Rwandan leaders in Washington to sign new deals aimed at ending years of conflict in a region rich in minerals.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame on Thursday reaffirmed commitments to a U.S.-brokered deal reached in June to stabilise the vast country and open the way for more Western mining investment. According to Reuters, fighting raged in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday and we ask you to pray that peace will prevail in this troubled nation.
Read more about “Prayer for DRC Congo’
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