UKRAINIANS have every chance of surviving Moscow’s ongoing invasion, given their psychological and spiritual resilience, a former RAF pilot said this week. He has been supplying Bibles and Christian books to the country’s embattled troops.
“Having been the Soviet Union’s economic powerhouse, Ukraine is a resourceful country — as shown by its latest rapid development of drone technology and military equipment,” Andrew Dakin, the executive director of the British Naval and Military Bible Society, said.
“Its people remain united and hopeful at a time when Russia is losing more than it’s gaining. They know the writing is on the wall for Moscow, if they can just keep going for another year or so.”
The former pilot spoke after delivering 6000 waterproof Ukrainian-language Bibles to a warehouse in the western city of Lviv, for distribution by military chaplains to front-line soldiers and special operations forces.
Mr Dakin told the Church Times that the consignment, co-organised with the Romanian charity Bridges of Faith, had included 1000 Irish-designed stainless-steel “Kelly Kettles”, designed for heating water in extreme storm and battle conditions.
But he stressed that the delivery represented “just the tip of a requirement iceberg”, and was part of a much larger consignment being prepared for use in harsh combat conditions across Ukraine.
“By combining Bibles with kettles, we hope this will serve as a social welfare campaign — enabling us to increase our output as funding becomes available,” he said.
Mr Dakin served as a Harrier pilot in the 1990-1991 First Gulf War, and later worked as a project manager with BAE Systems,
“When I speak to Ukrainians on active service, I tell them I understand the need for spiritual support on the front line, even if my own combat experience isn’t as long and intense as theirs. I say I’ve also known moments when the difference between life and death is measured in seconds or inches.”
As Mr Dakin completed his recent delivery, five more Ukrainian civilians were killed and dozens injured, in Russian drone and missiles strikes on Monday. President Putin has declared a temporary ceasefire for Russia’s annual Victory Day on 8 May.
In turn, Ukrainian drones and Flamingo cruise missiles struck targets across Russia last weekend, leaving Moscow’s three airports closed at the beginning of this week.
Mr Dakin said that the chief chaplain of Ukraine’s ground forces, Colonel Larisa Polyanska, had supported the supply of “spiritual material” to her fighting personnel via distribution outlets in Kyiv.
“Besides more Bibles for veterans, wounded servicemen, and bereaved families, we are also preparing a soldier’s notebook with scriptural passages,” he said.
“The Ukrainian chaplaincy network includes priests and pastors from all denominations and faiths, who enjoy strong, cohesive relations and are making sure our Bibles and other texts reach the right people,” he said.
Founded in 1779, the Naval and Military Bible Society supplied millions of Bibles to troops serving in both world wars, and provides scriptural resources to service personnel, seafarers, and associated groups both in the United Kingdom and globally.
The Society, based in Wiltshire, is one of many humanitarian organisations helping Ukrainians in the fifth year of the war, which has left up to two million dead and injured on both sides, and millions more displaced.