Katey Hearth, Mission Network News

Attacks targeting critical infrastructure will not stop “until Moscow runs out of missiles,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns. Despite an additional $400 million in military support last week from the United States, Ukrainian officials say they still don’t have enough munition to keep Russia at bay.

At the same time, top NATO officials and foreign ministers gather in Romania to discuss Ukraine’s looming humanitarian crisis. “Many here face a grim choice: to flee or to freeze,” Norway’s foreign minister told reporters yesterday.

Kenya’s government reports worsening drought conditions. Nearly 950,000 children under five are now “acutely malnourished.”

The country has been without rain for four consecutive seasons, sending poverty and hunger rates skyrocketing. Last month, Oxfam International warned of an impending famine.

Groundwater plays an increasingly critical role as Kenya’s drought drags on.

“In the last few years, we have been able to put a well or a borehole in all of the communities that we have an established work in,” Joy Mueller of Kenya Hope says.

There’s much to be said about collaboration in the workplace. A 2018 business study found that when employees work as a team, 73 percent do better work, and 60 percent are more innovative.

The same principles apply to Bible translation. When everyone works together, more gets done. Andy Keener sees this firsthand as the Executive Vice President for Partnerships at Wycliffe USA.

A new report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom says Nigeria’s blasphemy laws have to go. USCIRF recommendations help guide the U.S. State Department in matters of foreign policy.

“I remember when some of the northern states in Nigeria were putting these Sharia laws in place,” The Voice of the Martyrs USA spokesman Todd Nettleton says.

Meteorologists expect more rain in Pakistan this week, posing a new threat to 668,000 people left homeless by severe seasonal flooding.

Weeks of heavy rains and floods have affected 33 million people; the number of people in makeshift shelters increased by 190,000 since last week. Record-breaking deluges killed at least 1,400 people, washing away roughly $30 billion in housing, farmland, and livestock.

A new report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urges lawmakers to take a closer look at Nigeria. Simultaneously, a second report analyzed by International Christian Concern found kidnappers target Christians ten times more often than Muslims.

According to USCIRF, militant Islamist groups are growing, and significant attacks have become even more frequent. Since “many of the core drivers of violence in Nigeria relate to poor governance,” religious freedom watchdogs recommend diplomatic action.

Uncertainty remains as Russia’s war in Ukraine churns on. The February invasion triggered the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

Nearly 6.7 million refugees from Ukraine are scattered across Europe. Meanwhile, another 6.6 million people are on the run within Ukraine.

God is moving too, but not in the ways you might expect. Before the war, conflict among Deaf churches repelled nonbelievers in Ukraine.

Tensions heighten in the Ukraine war as Russian ally Belarus says its warplanes can now carry nukes.

On Friday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko spoke against a general threat from Western forces:

“Everything was ready (referring to modifications made to Belarusian warplanes to carry nuclear weapons). It’s not a good idea to escalate things with Belarus because that would be an escalation with the Union State (of Russia and Belarus) which has nuclear weapons. If they start to create problems … the response will be immediate.”

It has been one year since the Taliban gained control in Afghanistan and while many Christians have already fled, some are staying to continue spreading the gospel. 

On August 15, 2021, the Taliban claimed control of Afghanistan’s capital amid the United States’ chaotic troop withdrawal. The advance came as no surprise to those watching, as major cities fell to Taliban rule throughout the summer.

Uganda’s pandemic lockdowns led to discipleship opportunities – in 2020 and today.

When society locked down two years ago, Set Free Ministries equipped teachers to visit students at home. Set Free’s Dave McIntyre says, “They started many local Bible studies in the villages.”