Ukraine is one of the largest countries in Europe. A third of its territory has been torn apart and destroyed. Now, even a year after the war began, my mind still refuses to accept the fact that such a war could even be possible in our civilised world in the 21st century. Also, I gave up trying to understand how anyone could support this inhuman invasion.

What has changed in these nine months? Ourselves. Our land, our language and identity mean to us much more because they want to take it away from us. They kill us only because we are Ukrainians. We began to hugely respect our soldiers who are paying the highest price to try and stop the occupier from committing atrocities against our women and children. We began to love our neighbour more. There has never been such unity among our people. Everyone is helping and supporting anyone who’s in bigger need than themselves. We have begun to pray a lot, because we believe that God’s protection can stop the missiles that hit our homes.

Also, we have been learning to be more thankful: for electricity for a couple of hours a day, for warm radiators in the house, for a hot meal. We are thankful for the people from abroad who donate generously and try their best to support us. I am amazed at the fact that worldwide, people have united to keep Ukraine alive through this cruel war.

The Bible says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). I’ve never seen so much evil and so many good deeds as I have over this past year. Our belief is that good will overcome evil. God bless you!"