“LORD, we trust in the promise of your word. . .” The Archbishop of Canterbury broke off from his prayer as the slow, rising wail of an air-raid siren filled the room.

Last Friday, Archbishop Welby was in Odesa, in southern Ukraine, visiting a Christian charity, Heritage, which works with children, people with special needs, and those living in, or escaping from, areas near the front lines.

Odesa itself is attacked frequently by Russian drones, but a check on a social-media feed that provides live updates on military activity confirmed that the current alarm was related to a Russian plane that had taken off and could be carrying a hypersonic missile.

Slava, who with his wife, Alona, founded Heritage in 2007, advised that, until further updates, it was safe to continue as normal. The Archbishop resumed his prayer.

After about one hour, it was the all-clear: no missiles had been fired. Two days previously, an attack, using similar weapons, had occurred, killing five people around the country. Archbishop Welby and his team had spent almost three hours in a shelter (News, 7 February).

Later last Friday, in an interview with the Church Times (Podcast, 15 February), Archbishop Welby said that the sense among Ukrainians that life was “profoundly uncertain, unpredictable, and uncontrollable” had “really imprinted itself” on his mind.

While visiting Heritage’s centre in Ukraine, the Archbishop met some of those who had had to flee areas near the front line, and who were now being housed temporarily by Heritage and supported in looking for long-term accommodation.

The residents ranged in age from eight to eighties. Archbishop Welby spent time sitting with Kolya, an eight-year-old, who was building a model of a warship and setting it to sail on the “Black Sea” of the carpet.

Later, the Archbishop recalled being told that, “whenever there’s a bang, the trauma of having been in the village, and the entire village destroyed, is seen in [Kolya’s] reaction.”

He also recalled a conversation with Luba, a 70-year-old woman whose daughter had been killed by artillery fire during the evacuation of her village. Luba’s husband, Viktor, sat silently while his wife spoke with the Archbishop.

“That sense of powerlessness, of all your plans for life being completely and permanently changed by the action of invasion” had been overwhelming, he said. The air-raid alert, he suggested, emphasised the precariousness of everyday life.

Heritage is one of several Ukrainian charities that have received support from Christian Aid, using funds from the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for Ukraine.

Christian Aid’s Ukraine-response country director, Iryna Dobrohorska, said last Friday: “I think we are all in agreement that the war is not ending any time soon, and the needs are dire.

“Our mission, as Christian Aid, is to support our partners, to support our people. For me, as a Ukrainian, it is a big honour to help the people of Ukraine, the people who suffered. I also underwent evacuation.

“And we are very grateful that there is still attention, that there is still interest in the most challenging time for our country.”

Francis Martin/Church TimesFood supplies in Heritage’s centre in Odesa, ready to be transported to areas closer to the fighting

One of the biggest humanitarian needs in the south of Ukraine arose last summer. after the Nova Kakhovka dam was destroyed. This forced the evacuation of more than 80 villages, comprising more than 17,000 people (News, 8 June 2023).

Heritage, supported by Christian Aid, helped by distributing food, drinking water, and medical supplies to the areas affected.

The charity was busy enough even before the full-scale invasion, running summer camps for children, programmes for people with hearing impairments, and for children with special needs, and helping with the adoption process, alongside other work.

Now, it is also heavily engaged in delivering aid to communities near the front lines. Anna and Vova are two of the Heritage workers who make frequent trips with supplies of food and fuel, and have helped to evacuate people from areas at risk of occupation.

They could spend only 15 minutes at each stop, they explained, to avoid being targeted by Russian drones. Even so, Vova has come under direct fire from a drone.

Tania, a woman who fled from a village near the front line, was now helping Heritage with its aid deliveries, using her local knowledge. The risks remain high: her husband lost his leg below the knee to a drone strike while driving.

After they had met some of the displaced people helped by Heritage and Christian Aid, and had looked around the centre, Slava asked Archbishop Welby to pray for a “lasting peace for Ukraine”.

“I hope we are alive when the peace comes,” he added, drily, before his prayer was interrupted by the air-raid siren.