On Tulsa Visit, Ukrainian Pastors Talk About Crisis In Their Home Country

&nbsp;They say not all of Ukraine is like the war zone happening in the eastern region, and refugees have been fleeing to their home region by the masses since May.<br/><br/>

Sunday, July 27th 2014, 10:43 pm

By: News On 6


A Ukrainian pastor and bishop are leaving Tulsa today after studying American churches and they are aiming to implement some of our more modern approaches to Christianity back home.

One thing they'd like Americans to know about the crisis in Ukraine?

They say not all of Ukraine is like the war zone happening in the eastern region. The two pastors live in southeast Ukraine, about 150 miles from the war zone. They say refugees have been fleeing to their region by the masses since May.

Their ministries help refugees relocate by providing them food and clothes and teaching them trades to survive and feed their families -- like how to cook and how to set up a small businesses like chicken houses or greenhouses.

"When people come from the war zone to our city, they breathe out with relief and they say, 'We cannot believe. You live in a whole different universe. It's so much different here,' so we are really blessed to live where we are," Belousov said.

These men were actually in the air traveling from Kiev to Amsterdam to Detroit when the Malaysian Airline was shot down in Ukraine.

They say the news shocked them and hurt them deeply.

"I just didn't know how to explain to people that it's not my personal fault that it ever happened, and when you think about the families that died and it's all because somebody just pulled the trigger,” Belousov said. “Somebody was crazy enough to do it."

They say they're not scared flying back to Kiev on Sunday because they're warriors and they have God on their side.

Shypilov Vadym says Ukrainians are very free-loving people who are now being used as shields against rockets and mines and grenades.

He believes as soon as Russia stops supporting the terrorist groups, the tension will release.

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