Ukraine | Russia’s deadly strike on a Baptist church in Zaporizhzhia during an April 16 prayer meeting was a targeted atrocity against Christianity and benevolence, religious freedom advocates including those associated with the church told Baptist Press.
At least one person was killed and at least eight others were injured when Russia launched a bomb on The House of the Gospel Church of about 300 members that had served the community for years, the Embassy of Ukraine in the U.S. said in a public statement when rescue workers were still on the scene.
“This is a deliberate attack on people of faith,” the embassy said, “those who gathered peacefully to pray.”
“The images of destruction in Ukraine and the reports of loss of life and injury give me grief,” said Shannon Ford, IBSA Mission Director and former International Mission Board Missionary to Ukraine. “Yet, I am not there. This is not my home. My family is not there. I feel spiritually and emotionally connected, but I will never feel the sorrow like my Ukrainian friends whose lives are impacted.”
“Father, please let them have peace,” he prayed. Ford and his wife, Katie, served with the IMB for 23 years, including 18 years in Kyiv, Ukraine. He has served at IBSA since March 2022.
Promoters of “A Faith Under Siege,” a documentary series reporting Russia’s persecution of Christians, identified the man killed as Ruslan Utyuzh, a minister at the bombed church.
Mission Eurasia (ME), a Gospel-based humanitarian group with offices in Franklin, Tenn., has a close, longstanding relationship with the congregation, ME Director of Marketing Kate Akers told Baptist Press.
“Sadly, churches like this are often targeted, especially when they are serving their communities in times of crisis,” Akers told Baptist Press. “That is one reason Mission Eurasia has devoted significant attention to documenting religious persecution and attacks on churches in Ukraine.”
The House of the Gospel Church began as an underground congregation and is the membership of one of ME’s key leaders, since displaced to Moldova, Akers said. The son of one of the church’s retired pastors has planted a church that holds Sunday afternoon services in ME’s Reimer Center in Zaporizhzhia, Akers said.
“A Faith Under Siege” producer Colby Barrett said the church strike “wasn’t an accident” nor “an isolated incident.” Barrett is producing the expanded documentary in cooperation with the Gospel-humanitarian outreach Ukraine Freedom Project, and maintains close ties to Ukraine’s Christian communities.
“These churches are not just places of worship, they’re lifelines for their communities, providing humanitarian aid and a sense of hope,” Barrett told Baptist Press. “And that’s exactly why they’re being targeted. Putin isn’t just trying to destroy buildings; he’s trying to strip communities of the faith and support systems that keep them standing. But Ukrainians are strong. Their faith runs deep. And they’ll prevail.”
Russia reportedly struck the church with a KAB-1500L laser-guided, precision bomb designed for accuracy, Barrett said.
Increasingly, Russia has been striking churches and other sites while Christians are gathered there, Barrett told Baptist Press on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s war on Ukraine. He mentioned Russia’s attack during a pastors’ conference on a megachurch he attends in Kyiv.
The church “built this 4,500-person worship hall. And this is just last September (2025), they were holding the ceremony to open it. So it was their first worship in that hall and a big pastors conference (and) hundreds of pastors from all across Ukraine were in that complex the night before the hall was supposed to open,” Barrett said. “Russia sent two Shahed drones at this church complex. Both of those Shaheds narrowly missed.”
The drones missed by about 3 feet their intended targets, instead destroying cars in a nearby parking lot, Barrett said. Had the strikes been successful, at least 20 pastors could have been killed while lodging in advance of the conference, he said, and the church would have been destroyed.
“But nobody was hurt. Feels like a miracle of God but the cool thing here is that morning, they held their services like normal with a huge turnout,” Barrett said. “And 200 people came forward to get baptized the morning of the attack. … The resiliency and faith of these folks is just mind blowing.”
Russia has killed at least 58 priests and pastors and damaged or destroyed more than 700 churches across Ukraine, Barrett said.
Mission Eurasia details Russia’s systemic persecution of Christians and the ongoing destruction of religious life in occupied territories of Ukraine, with the latest reports available here.
– With additional reporting from the Illinois Baptist