Article provided by FEBA Radio
Five-year-old Tabitha is playing with her dolls. Suddenly, she makes a sound like a siren, prompting her dad to start guessing what it might be – an ambulance? A police car? No, she says, it is an air raid siren.
Even in their games, the children of Ukraine expect bombs to fall.
“It’s a broken childhood in some way,” says Tabitha’s father, Igor, who serves as program director at Radio M (FEBA Ukraine). If an aerial attack occurs while children are at school, they take shelter in the cold basement. “Every time I see there’s an aerial attack, I’m sad, because they are supposed to be spending time with classmates, studying, just playing games.”
To make matters worse, Kyiv currently has limited or no electricity supply. This has turned an already cold winter into an ordeal. Despite their own personal trials – one staff member has cancer, and another’s brother is being held captive by Russian forces – FEBA Ukraine continues to proclaim the only true Hope. The team does video broadcasts from a studio in a bomb shelter close to the main studio, and those serving in the military do video broadcasts from the front lines. In Kyiv, they supply portable lamps fitted with MP3 players, which provide light in bomb shelters and play Bible stories and worship songs for adults and children.
Igor is passionate about sharing the gospel with the youth. Parental negligence is a widespread problem in Ukraine, especially where teenagers are concerned, so Igor makes videos to tell them about a Father who cares. He stays in contact with a group of young volunteers who give ideas for content based on what their peers are interested in.
After watching one of these videos, a 17-year-old boy texted Igor to ask him about God and why he believes God exists. He was struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, suffering in the absence of parental care, and he was desperate. The FEBA Ukraine team met with him, and Igor invited him to a youth service at church. Sometime later, the boy repented and was baptised.
Please pray for Igor and the FEBA Ukraine team, for their young listeners, and for an end to the war in Ukraine. For more information about FEBA and its work, please visit www.febaradio.co.za
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Date published: 12/05/2026
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