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Christian radio continues to broadcast Gospel to Ukraine despite forced evacuation

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Christian radio station team that had broadcast from Ukraine prior to the Russian invasion, is continuing to share the Gospel despite being forced to evacuate from its modern studio in Odessa to an apartment in Romania, WNG reports. Even while struggling with a staff shortage and lack of equipment in Romania, New Life Radio still broadcasts the Good News in Russian to Ukraine as well as to Russia and Belarus.

Sponsored by the US-based Christian Radio for Russia NGO, New Life Radio originally broadcast from Moscow, WNG said. The station moved to Odessa, Ukraine in 2019 after the Russian government-imposed restrictions on press and religious freedoms.

However, days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, NLR station manager Ivan Zhurakovski, his wife and three children, and his sister, NLR programmer Eva Zhurakovski, evacuated first to Moldova and then to Romania. Only the young station engineer Yuri Ignatenko stayed behind in Odessa, setting up pre-recorded programming during the day: as a port city, Odessa was and is especially vulnerable to attack.

From Romania, the NLR team has introduced live programming, including devotionals, Bible readings, sermons, and music, WNG said. Most Ukrainians speak Russian too, so the Gospel continues to be shared with them.

Nevertheless, Daniel Johnson, the president of Christian Radio for Russia, believes the time has come to launch an NLR sister station in the Ukrainian language: Ukraine is fighting for freedom from Russia and it has its own language. “Ukraine is going to go through such a long period of recovery and struggle,” he said. “The need for the Word of God is going to be greater than ever,” Johnson said in a statement.