TULSA, Okla. — Oklahomans and Ukrainians gathered in prayer on Feb. 22 as the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion approaches.
2 News Oklahoma’s Douglas Braff listened to a Ukrainian faith leader’s thoughts about where things stand now.
“All the intelligence services in the world were saying that Ukraine will stand just for one or two weeks,” Vitaliy Orlov told 2 News, in Ukrainian with the help of an interpreter. “We're standing now for three years against the second [largest] Army in the world.”
Ukraine is David, and Russia is Goliath, as this pastor from northeastern Ukraine put it.
Orlov visited Tulsa to lead a prayer and speak about the war at the American Ukrainian Prayer Lunch.
When asked what thoughts come to mind as the war enters its third year, he replied, “I think about millions of Ukrainians that were pushed to leave their homes, and I think about tens and hundreds of thousands Ukrainians who died in this war.”
“I'm thinking about over 700 church buildings and temples that were destroyed by Russians,” he added. “And I'm thinking about families of 70 pastors that were murdered by Russian terrorist army.”
There was a friendly display of the relationship between the Red, White, and Blue and the Blue and Gold at the luncheon, with singers performing both countries’ national anthems. But this was amid an apparent less-than-friendly diplomatic situation.
“You should have never started it [the war]. You could have made a deal. I could have made a deal for Ukraine,” President Donald Trump said this past week.
When asked what he makes of those comments, Orlov said, “I don't know why he said so, and I hope he had a serious reason to say so. But we all know that on 24th of February of 2022, Russia came on Ukrainian territory with tanks, rockets, and all their power. They came to Ukrainian territory. They started this war.”
When Ukraine marks the passage of three years on Monday, it will be the country’s first-ever National Day of Prayer.
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