Ukraine and Russia have been at war for nearly a month. As the situation continues to evolve, believers must continue to diligently pray. Here is a detailed update and list of prayer requests from another church source within Ukraine. May it provide further insight for your prayer time for the Ukrainian people. You can also view the daily prayer guide from Intercessors for Ukraine here at this link.

From ARISE:Life.

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Praise Points – Highlights

• Assassination Foiled – 25 member death squad came in from Slovakia and was intercepted in the city of Uzhgorod, because a high-ranking FSB officer gave Ukraine the intel.
• Irpin River Dam – was destroyed on February 26, apparently by the Russians, but the flooding now blocks the Russians from being able to cross the river.
• Port Disabled – The port of Berdyansk, a city in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast of south-east Ukraine – which has been used this week to unload Russian supplies and weapons for the siege of Mariupol.
• Zelenskiy lowers the Gauntlet – hoping for “meaningful steps” at the round of summits, noting they would reveal “who is a friend, who is a partner, and who betrayed us for money.”
• Russian Exodus – According to RAEK, a Russian technology trade group, 50,000 to 70,000 tech workers have already fled Russia, and 70,000 to 100,000 more could leave in April. With flights to the West canceled, they have wended their way to countries where Russian citizens can still travel visa-free. A total of at least 250,000 Russians have fled Russia since the war began.
• Opposition in the Military – In January, the head of a group of serving and retired Russian military officers declared that invading Ukraine would be “pointless and extremely dangerous.” It would kill thousands, he said, make Russians and Ukrainians enemies for life, risk a war with NATO and threaten “the existence of Russia itself as a state.”
• Defection – Anatoly Chubais Flees – A veteran envoy of President Vladimir Putin has resigned over the Ukraine war and left Russia with no intention to return, two sources said on Wednesday, the first senior official to break with the Kremlin since Putin launched his invasion a month ago. The Kremlin confirmed that Anatoly Chubais had resigned of his own accord. Chubais was one of the principal architects of Boris Yeltsin’s economic reforms of the 1990s and was Putin’s boss in the future president’s first Kremlin job. He held senior business and political jobs under Putin, lately serving as Kremlin special envoy to international organizations.
• Missing Inner Circle – Shoigu, Minister of Defense, has not been shown meeting with Putin in person since Feb. 27, & Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, also invisible….
• Unexpected Sanctions – Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said about the West’s freezing of Russia’s central bank reserves that “nobody who was predicting what sanctions the West would pass could have pictured that. It’s just thievery.” … Russia has about $640 billion in foreign reserves of which about $300 billion had been frozen.
• Former Ukrainian President Yushchenko – The Putin I knew is gone. When I look at this Fuhrer of the Russian Reich who is waging war number 7, starting with Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transdniestria, Crimea, Donbas – all the wars in Eastern Europe…Putin was behind all of that. This is the world’s problem. This image of evil isn’t something Ukraine invented.
• Secretary of defense Austin apparently attempting to get S300 systems to Ukraine from neighboring countries!
• Russian Economy – 15% projected drop in Russian GDP next year
• American Support – 74% of Americans support action in Ukraine
• US Gen. Barry McCaffrey – 25,000 Russian dead or wounded. Having lost control of the logistics and command and control, it will take weeks to regain it. But remember it two years to subjugate Chechnya and by the end Grozny was just rubble. His options are very limited. Really weapons of mass destruction. We normally think of nuclear but that also includes biological and chemical. The US and NATO forces would be in no way in danger because of early warning systems and protective gear. But Ukrainian loss of life would be catastrophic and most likely precipice NATO forces entering on the ground. But also cyber weapons of mass destruction. If Russia truly pursued cyber attacks. America and Great Britain have extremely powerful offensive cyber weapons and the results on Russia would be devastating!
• War Crimes – The U.S. government has formally concluded that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in a statement on Wednesday. The finding lends official weight to expressions of revulsion about Russia’s military conduct from top U.S. officials, including President Biden, who last week declared Russian President Vladimir V. Putin “a war criminal.”
• Independent Electricity – Ukraine Joins European Power Grid, Ending Its Dependence on Russia – Belgium-based utilities company ENTSO-E connected the Ukrainian electrical grid to a largely-distributed system stretching across most of Europe, allowing it to end dependence on Russian power stations.
• Change in Russian Rhetoric – The existence of Russia itself is at stake today – Head of Russian delegation at talks with Ukraine and former minister of culture Medinsky
• NATO
  • Chemical Weapons – The use of chemical weapons in Ukraine will change the nature of the conflict and its consequences will be dire.
  • Reinforcements – it will double its troops along the alliance’s eastern flank. “The first step is the deployment of four new Nato battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, along with our existing forces in the Baltic countries and Poland,” said the alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.
  • Red Line – Countries are also expected to agree at Thursday’s meeting to provide special kit to help protect Ukraine against chemical, biological or nuclear attacks launched by Russia.
• Military Aid – Britain will provide 6,000 defensive missiles and extra funds to support the Ukrainian military, as well as to BBC journalists providing news coverage in the region. US has completed the $350 million shipment of military aid and is gathering and about to begin sending the $800 million shipment
• Oil Dependence – Russia is now demanding payments for its oil in rubles – European Oil Dependence – Lithuania 83 percent of its oil imports from Russia, followed by Finland (80 percent), Slovakia (74 percent), Poland (58 percent), Hungary (43 percent) and Estonia (34 percent). Germany (30 percent, Norway (25 percent), Belgium (23 percent), Turkey (21 percent), Denmark (15 percent) and Spain (11 percent).
• Sanctions – increasing from US & Britain, more oligarchs, more of their family members, more politicians, and perhaps even gold.
• High Altitude Anti-Aircraft Missiles – US Secretary of Defense apparently attempting to iron out deals to release S300s to Ukraine from Eastern European countries.
• Russian Military
  • Depleted – NATO estimates that Russia has already lost between 7,000 & 15,000 soldiers – Russia lost 15,000 in Afghanistan in 10 years and that began the fall of the Soviet Union. Also they’ve expended over 1200 cruise missiles or 50% of their total. “The Russians may be slightly below a 90% level of assessed available combat power,” a senior defense official told reporters in Washington, adding that some Russian forces were suffering from frostbite. (10% would be 19,000+ incapacitated by death or injury.)
  • Lack of Supplies -The Ukrainian military has released its operational report as of 6am this morning, claiming Russian forces have stockpiles of ammunition and food that will last for “no more than three days”.
• Russian Economy
  • Shortages – Sugar shortages across Russia are creating flashbacks to the Soviet Union for people where people are having to wait in lines for sometimes hours & only allowed to buy 5kg at a time. Russian doctors are facing shortages of more than 80 medicines at pharmacies, including insulin and a popular children’s anti-inflammation medicine. Natalia Zubarevich, an expert on the economy of Russia’s regions, noted that the main reason for the recent shortages was not just the damage from sanctions but also the failure of supply chains and hesitancy to make big purchases while the value of the rouble remains so volatile. In the longer term, entire sectors of the Russian economy could be at risk, as the lack of access to western component parts could affect everything from air travel to production of consumer goods. Economic growth is sacrificed for the sake of this wartime economy.
• Evacuation – An agreement has been reached to try to evacuate civilians trapped in Ukrainian towns and cities through nine “humanitarian corridors”, but no agreement had been reached with Russia to establish a safe corridor from the heart of Mariupol.
• Russia’s Reinforcements – Russia has resorted to recruiting former soldiers to join its war effort in order to make up for heavy losses.
• EU – Today’s summit has already produced the following – “The latest EUCO draft also mentions that the “European Council calls on all countries to align with those sanctions. Any attempts to circumvent sanctions or to aid Russia by other means must be stopped.
• Ukraine
  • Pushback – Russian forces pushed back in Northwest Kiev, out of Mukachev, while forces in Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel are surrounded. And on the northwest of the city, their forces have halted and are digging in defensive positions
  • Talks – Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for direct talks with his Russian counterpart as the key to ending the war. Talks tough and even confrontational but claims there is some progress.
  • Refugees – Over 3.7 million Ukrainians have now fled the country – UNHCR…

Prayer Requests – Highlights

• Weapons of Terror – The deputy head of Kyiv’s police force has accused Russia of using white phosphorous munitions in the city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk. Oleksiy Biloshytskiy shared online footage, which could not be independently verified, of material burning fiercely underneath a pile of aggregate. Already using thermobaric weapons and cluster bombs, having already struck and ammonia facility, and now threatening biological and chemical attacks, Russia has moved from demoralization and to terror as their motivator.
• Food – A bout 300,000 people in the occupied southern city of Kherson are running out of food and medical supplies, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry said. Kherson was the first major Ukrainian city to fall into Russian hands since the invasion began on 24 February
• Kherson – Deportation – Russia plans to unleash a “great terror” on Kherson by kidnapping residents and taking them across the Russian border, an FSB whistleblower has claimed. The Kremlin was no longer willing to “play nicely” with protesters in the Ukrainian city, a letter said.
• Humanitarian Aid – Russian forces of seizing a humanitarian convoy near Mangush west of Mariupol. “Employees of the state emergency service and bus drivers have been taken captive,”
• Child Deportation – Russian forces have “kidnapped” 2,389 children from the Russian-controlled territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, the US embassy in Kyiv has said, citing figures by Ukraine’s foreign ministry. The embassy said: “This is not assistance. It is kidnapping.”
• Mariupol – Almost 100,000 people remain trapped in the ruined city of Mariupol, facing starvation amid “constant” Russian bombardment, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, as he appealed for the release of a convoy he said had been captured by Russian forces. In a video address late on Tuesday, he renewed his calls for Russia to allow safe humanitarian corridors, and said civilians faced “inhumane conditions. In a total siege. Without food, water, medication, under constant shelling and under constant bombing.” More than 7,000 people had escaped the city in the past 24 hours, he said. However one humanitarian convoy travelling on an agreed route west of the city had been “captured by the occupiers”.
• Chernihiv Lifeline – Unconfirmed reports are filtering in that a bridge that was crucial for bringing in humanitarian aid and evacuating civilians was bombed by Russian forces overnight in Chernihiv. Russian forces have apparently destroyed a bridge linking Chernihiv with road to Kyiv. The northern Ukrainian town has been hammered since day 1, but has offered remarkable resistance. Russia attempting siege tactics.
• The UN – There are three resolutions in front of the UN today pertaining to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One against. 1 by South Africa with no mention of Russia and a 3rd by Russia. Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, told reporters on Tuesday that Russia had now asked for a vote on Wednesday. Polyansky said if Western nations don’t support the Russian resolution it will be “a reflection of their hypocrisy” and refusal to support a purely humanitarian measure “without any politicization,” just like other humanitarian resolutions adopted by the 15-member council.
• India is expected to announce a payment arrangement that would allow trade with Russia to continue. The so-called rupee-ruble trade mechanism could come as early as next week.
• Report from the UK Ministry of Defense
  • The battlefield across northern Ukraine remains largely static with Russian forces likely conducting a period of reorganization before resuming large-scale offensive operations.
  • Russian forces are attempting to envelop Ukrainian forces in the east of the country as they advance from the direction of Kharkiv in the north and Mariupol in the south.
  • Russian forces are still attempting to circumvent Mykolaiv as they look to drive west towards Odesa.
  • US & the EU will discover the backbone to cease talking and begin to DO. Providing the means necessary for Ukraine to defend itself FULLY and to communicate to Putin in a way he can hear that he has gone too far, and his end is nigh.
  • Russia – that Truth would triumph, Putin’s allies would turn on him, that he will come to his senses and the people would rise up.
  • Russian Soldiers – to understand the truth and surrender
  • Occupied Territories – Pray against human rights abuses, arrests, kidnappings and deportation
  • Belarus – Will Not Engage in Ukraine
  • Syrian Fighters – Syrian Troops will not reach Ukraine
  • Slovakia – will release S300 Antiaircraft missile systems to Ukraine
  • Poland – will release MiG29s to Ukraine
  • NATO – Meeting Thursday
  • False Flag Events – Russia accusing Ukraine of chemical and biological weapons planned attacks
  • China, India, Saudi Arabia & the UAE would be pushed out of the middle and into open and active denunciation of Russia.
  • Allow Evacuation & Humanitarian Aid – Russian troops reportedly stopped a convoy of buses travelling to Mariupol to evacuate residents
  • Mariupol protection for all there.
  • Food & Water for all
  • Zaporozhia – 38-hour curfew now to stop infiltration as Russians are 40 miles from the city of 750,000.
  • Bombers incoming all across Ukraine
  • Protection – of water, electricity, TV and communication infrastructure
  • The Church to ARISE!!!

Were you encouraged by this update? How are you continuing to uplift the Ukrainian people in prayer? Share your thoughts and prayers below.

(Excerpt from ARISE:Life. Photo Credit: Getty Images)