On the evening of May 23, Andrei Murzin’s phone alerted him about the possibility of an overnight Russian attack.
The professor and program director at Kyiv Theological Seminary faced a choice: Stay in his 15th-floor apartment—an option that made him a little nervous—or spend the night in his garage storage unit a mile away. His apartment has a basement where many residents take cover, but a direct hit could collapse the building on anyone sheltering below.
Murzin and his wife packed a few necessities and drove to their garage. He folded down the back seats in his car and created a makeshift bed for his wife while he slept on a foam mattress on top of some boards in the garage.
Later in the evening, the warnings escalated. It’s definitely going to be a big one, Murzin thought as he read notifications from Telegram and other information channels. He felt safer than he did at his apartment, yet sleeping was difficult.
That night, Russia launched one of the worst aerial attacks on Kyiv since the full-scale war began more than four years ago. Ukraine’s air defense systems intercepted most of the roughly 600 drones and 90 missiles Russia launched. Yet some—including a hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile launched for the third time since the war began—struck their intended targets.
Murzin said explosions thundered nearby throughout the night. “I guess we’ve learned to overcome this fear,” he said. About three miles away from his garage, Murzin’s son sheltered in Kyiv’s underground Lukianivska metro station, where a blast wave from a nearby strike on a shopping mall blew out windows and damaged the above-ground entrance to the station.
Murzin’s son told him the blast sent door fragments and other debris down the escalator shaft to the shelter zone 200 feet below ground level and shook dust from the ceiling. (Kyiv’s underground metro system has become a vital refuge for civilians without proper shelters.) No one was injured at the station, yet in other parts of the Kyiv region, four people died and nearly 100 were injured. The attack damaged or destroyed multiple cultural sites, including the Chernobyl museum and the National Art Museum of Ukraine.
The Russian assault on Kyiv came after Moscow threatened retaliation for a Ukrainian drone attack in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region on May 22. Moscow accused Kyiv of targeting civilians and said 21 college students died in the strike. The Ukrainian government called the report misinformation and said it struck a military site.
Russia has warned of more aerial assaults to come. Last week, Moscow urged the United States and other countries to evacuate their diplomats from Kyiv or be prepared to face “systematic strikes” targeting decision-making centers and drone-production sites.
European countries refused to pull their diplomats, and the US Embassy in Kyiv issued a statement denying rumors that its diplomats had fled the capital.
Then in the early morning of June 2, Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 100.
In the wake of the attacks, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to US leaders for more missile defense interceptors. “A large-scale attack and a completely transparent statement from Russia: if Ukraine is not protected from ballistic and other missile strikes, these strikes will continue,” he said.
Peace talks have repeatedly stalled, yet some analysts believe Russia’s war machine is beginning to show signs of weakness. Battlefield momentum has shifted slightly in Ukraine’s favor, and Putin’s approval ratings have dropped to its lowest level since before the war began, according to a recent poll. Meanwhile, Ukraine has expanded its drone campaigns deep into Russian territory, targeting its military infrastructure and ammunition sites.
Even as the war drags on, Ukrainian streets are bustling with life during the day when attacks are far less frequent, Murzin said. Transportation systems generally run on time, children play outside, and aside from damaged buildings, few signs of war are evident.
At Kyiv Theological Seminary—where Murzin teaches biblical counseling courses —professors temporarily moved classes online in February when frigid temperatures and Russian attacks on the energy grid forced the seminary to shut down its heating system and drain the water from its radiators. Yet since March, classes have met in person again. “Even for us sometimes, we are amazed that God allows us to continue,” Murzin said.
The seminary operates on a modular system, rotating groups of students between online study and on-campus periods throughout the year. During a separate attack earlier this month, Murzin and his wife sheltered at the seminary with students who lived in the dorms. The seminary has a first-floor classroom that is away from windows, and Murzin keeps a mattress in his office for nighttime air raids.
Murzin isn’t alarmed by Putin’s recent threats to escalate attacks on Kyiv. “Putin is like Satan—one of his main weapons is fear,” he said. “Well, in Ukraine, this is the fifth year we’ve lived in this. What’s new in this kind of threat?”
At Kyiv Christian Academy, some parents are concerned about the recent escalation’s impact on their children, said Eric Moore, the school’s director and a native of South Dakota. A strike on a nearby warehouse during the recent assault damaged some of the windows at the K-12 international school.
“It conjured up memories and similar feelings from when the drone hit back in November, so that experience helped us navigate this one,” Moore said, referring to a Russian bombardment that left a six-foot-wide crater in the school’s front lawn and blew out the windows. “We were all relieved it wasn’t worse.”
He said some families—especially expats—are wondering if now is the time to pack their bags and leave as attacks worsen. One missionary family described to Moore the challenges of sheltering with their daughter as explosions boomed throughout the night.
“Seeing the terror in a child’s face really hits the heart of a parent, and they ask, ‘Do we really need to be here? Is this what I’m supposed to be doing as a parent, bringing my child up in a place that’s so scary?’” Moore said, noting the importance of wrestling with these questions.
“I think for a lot of people, that’s a moment to return to this core calling. … What is that greater purpose in terms of why God has put it on our hearts to be here and what is the importance of the community that we are a part of?” he added.
For Murzin and other Ukrainians, the battle for their country’s future continues. “Ukrainians are not fighting for a territory,” Murzin said. “We are fighting for our survival, literally, because if Russia is not stopped and if we surrender, the real killing will begin.”
He pointed to lessons from the history of Soviet and Russian oppression, including the Holodomor—a manmade famine in the 1930s that killed millions of Ukrainians—and massacres in western Ukraine both during and after World War II.
He believes God is testing the faith of Christians in Ukraine. The trials of war are exposing the weak faith of some while amplifying the sacrificial ministry of others. “Christians should be the first ones to show courage and bravery,” Murzin said. “The gospel has delivered us from many fears, including the fear of death.”
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