When you can relate to someone’s story, the words they share go straight to your heart and moves your heart in powerful ways. This is how it was for Angela, an SGA Storyteller, as she listened to the words of Dmytro in the story below.  

The life of a chaplain cannot be understood by most, but the common bond between two families who sacrifice much to minister to tired and hurting soldiers can’t be broken. Their hearts share the same struggle and pain of the daily hardship, and yet also share the same joy as they witness the impact of even one soldier who hears the message of Christ. 

Please pray for SGA-supported missionary pastorswho also serve as chaplains. Pray, too, for Angela as she not only supports her husband’s ministry as a chaplain, but also listens whole-heartedly to many men and women as she gathers their life stories.  

Here is Dmytro’s story as shared by Angela . . .

“There are callings a person never plans and yet, looking back, can’t imagine missing.” That is how Dmytro describes his journey.

He never dreamed of becoming a military chaplain. He didn’t imagine himself in uniform, holding a Bible in a dugout, or whispering prayers in hospital rooms heavy with the smell of smoke and loss. But as he looks back on the path of his life—conscripted military service, theological training, faithful church ministry—he now sees what he couldn’t see then: God was preparing him long before the war began.

When Russia invaded, Dmytro did not hesitate. He went as an ordinary soldier, ready to fulfill his duty. Along the way, something began to change. Men around him—men who would never normally enter a church—started asking him questions about God. His commanders noticed his background. Then one simple conversation became a turning point:“Would you consider becoming our chaplain?”

He didn’t rush into the decision. The future chaplain asked his church to pray. They blessed him. And step by step, he walked into a calling he never expected.

Where God Sends Him

Life on the front has no schedule. Dmytro often goes where he never planned to be—and finds himself exactly where he is needed. More than once, he arrived at a position just moments after an attack, in time to help the wounded and pray with those who had survived.

He doesn’t call it coincidence.

“Sometimes God simply places me where I need to be,” the chaplain says quietly. “And afterward, I understand—I was there because He sent me.”

Ten Minutes That Matter

Most of the soldiers he meets are not believers. Some aren’t even sure God exists. Many don’t know where to begin. Dmytro rarely has hours to preach. Sometimes he has only 10 to 15 minutes on a training ground and just before a mission. He shares the Gospel, places a small prayer booklet in their hands, and gifts a bracelet with Christian symbols onto a wrist heading into danger.

Later in hospital rooms, where young men lie broken and wrapped in bandages,  something remarkable happens.

They remember him.
They smile.
They say thank you.
They say those few minutes mattered.

For a servant of God who often doubts if his work is enough, this becomes a gentle reminder: The harvest belongs to the Lord. We are only called to be faithful.

A Cost Carried at Home

The chaplain’s heaviest burden isn’t the battlefield—it is the families of the missing.

They look at him with eyes asking the one question he cannot answer: Is he alive?

He cannot confirm. He cannot explain. He cannot take away the torture of not knowing. So Dmytro listens. For 30 minutes, sometimes longer, he lets their storm of grief pour out. And when words fail, he prays—because in those moments, there is nothing else to offer except being there, and Christ.

His own family carries a heavy cost as well. His wife has spent more than three years raising their son alone. There are days when birthdays, weddings, and milestones feel crushing—moments when other families arrive together, and she arrives alone.

Their little boy once told his classmates, “I don’t have a dad—he went to the war,” not because it was true, but because he felt the emptiness.

There is no easy way to hold that kind of pain. Yet the Officer-Chaplain still sees mercy:

“I am not strong enough to hold my family together in this trial,” he admits. “But God is. For more than three years, He has carried us.”

He does not pretend this is heroic. It is costly, confusing, sometimes bitter. But beneath the exhaustion lives something unbreakable: Christ does not call and abandon. He sustains what He assigns.

What War Reveals

Dmytro has learned that trenches do not create faith—they reveal it. In foxholes, men who once mocked belief now whisper prayers. Some begin starting to ask questions about God. Some simply listen — and for now, that is enough. He has also learned that death here is never theoretical. It is sudden, unjust, and close. It strips away every illusion of control and leaves one sharp question: Where is my hope?

For the chaplain, the answer has never changed: It is in Christ—the One who entered suffering, understands loss, and promises resurrection.

What He Wants Us to Understand

War has damaged much in Ukraine. But one truth remains: We are one people—not soldiers and civilians, not front and rear. One nation. One grief. One hope. And on that shared ground, men like Chaplain Dmytro stand—reminding those staring death in the face that Christ still offers life.

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In a time of great uncertainty, God is bringing help, healing, and hope to the people of Ukraine through SGA-supported pastors, churches, a seminary, and SGA-supported Compassion Ministry. Be a part of God’s incredible work with your generosity and prayer support.

Your gift of compassion helps struggling people with emergency aid that generally includes Scripture materials, food, and hygiene supplies.