This one hit different.

I want you to picture this for a second.

It’s Easter week. You’re at your church. Not a megachurch, not a stadium, just your local house of worship where people gather to pray. Maybe 300 seats. You know everyone by name.

And then a laser-guided bomb drops through the roof.

That’s exactly what happened on Wednesday in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Russian forces used a KAB-1500L precision bomb to strike the House of the Gospel Baptist Church while believers were gathered inside for a prayer meeting.

A minister named Ruslan Utyuzh was killed. He left behind a wife and two young children.

At least eight others were seriously wounded.

Let that sink in.

“This was a deliberate attack on people of faith who had gathered peacefully to pray.”

That’s from the Embassy of Ukraine. And they’re right.

Here’s what makes this even more infuriating: this wasn’t a stray shell or collateral damage. The KAB-1500L is a precision-guided munition. You don’t accidentally drop one of those on a Baptist church during a prayer meeting. Somebody picked that target.

Documentary producer Colby Barrett put it plainly:

“The strike was neither an accident nor an isolated incident.”

“These churches are often not only places of worship but lifelines providing humanitarian aid and hope to their communities.”

And that’s the part that breaks your heart. These churches aren’t just preaching the Gospel. They’re feeding families. Sheltering refugees. Giving people a reason to keep going when everything around them is rubble.

https://x.com/kiraincongress/status/2044827877552607564

The numbers are staggering. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, approximately 700 churches have been damaged or destroyed across Ukraine. At least 58 priests and pastors have been killed.

Seven hundred churches.

Let me say that again because it deserves to land: seven hundred houses of worship, gone.

https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1913692691927646500

And it’s not just buildings being destroyed. In Russian-occupied territories, Ukrainian Catholic and Protestant churches have been shut down, priests expelled, and religious life driven underground. This is a systematic assault on Christianity itself.

Eric Mock from Slavic Gospel Association shared something that really stuck with me. He said the church “lives on through the people of God.” That even in the midst of this devastation, pastors are wearing body armor and walking into villages 20 miles from the front lines to preach the Gospel.

Twenty miles from active combat. In body armor. Preaching.

That’s not just faith. That’s the kind of faith most of us only read about.

I think about my own church, my own community, and I try to imagine what it would feel like to show up for a Wednesday night prayer meeting and wonder if tonight’s the night the roof caves in. I can’t. And honestly, I don’t think most Americans can either.

But our brothers and sisters in Ukraine are living it. Right now. This Easter week.

So here’s what I’ll say: pray. Pray hard. Pray for the families of Ruslan Utyuzh and every other pastor and believer who has paid the ultimate price. Pray for the churches still standing. Pray for the ones rebuilt from the ashes.

And don’t let this story disappear into the news cycle. Seven hundred churches. Fifty-eight pastors. A minister killed during a prayer meeting on Easter week.

The world needs to know.

Sound off in the comments below. Are you praying for Ukraine’s churches?