Ethan, a volunteer, is helping an elderly person evacuate the front zone.
When Faith Drives Action
Immersion in a Group of Religious Volunteers
In Ukraine, the world of volunteers attracts all kinds of motivations. For some, evacuating civilians from the front lines under the threat of FPV drones is a vocation guided by divine Providence.
Ethan, Josh, and Grace are all Americans. For them, crossing the Atlantic to carry out civilian evacuations is the result of a religious journey. Unique to each, this journey is one of seeking a life in communion with God. A day of immersion with these volunteers means meeting those who follow « God’s Plan. »
All three are volunteers in a US humanitarian disaster relief organization. The organization recruits from American churches, mostly Amish or Mennonite, trains young adults, and offers them missions around the world.
Driving an white eight-seater van, Josh, a tall, well-built blond, smiles under his cap and sunglasses as he explains the foundations of this approach. « In our community, we are encouraged to undertake humanitarian missions, especially in our early twenties. » Strongly encouraged, young people from these religious communities, such as the Mennonites, are expected to go out to “help thy neighbour”.
Through the vehicle window, the blue sky dominates the Ukrainian countryside and its vast fields, bordered by thick hedgerows. Despite the bucolic landscape, the front is close. It is felt as the landscape is marked by field fortifications.
Many fields are already scarred with lines of defence: anti-tank ditchs lines and mounds, and barbed wire lines. The war draws its straight lines, stretching into the horizon as far as the eye can see. The hedgerows are all under assault by bulldozers. Below the foliage of the trees, trenches and blindages, fortified positions, freshly built, can be seen.
Beyond the ground, the sky also prepares for the relentless advance of Kremlin’s forces. On the sides of the roads, men work under the sun that heats the asphalt. Some erect poles, five meters high, while others, on scaffolding, install anti-drone nets to protect the road.
Ethan and Grace inside the armoured vehicle – « the Beast »
Taking advantage of the journey, Josh expands on his confession, based on seeking a life in communion with God. He is 22 years old and has not always been a practising Christian. It was following personal difficulties, around the age of 18, that the young man turned to God. « I started praying and seeking Him, » a practice that resembles introspection, perhaps meditation. Beyond God, it is His voice and the path He indicates that the faithful seek.
Josh remembers well his first sign from God. « I felt a presence sit next to me and take me by the shoulder. It was a warm and benevolent presence. » Working on his relationship with God, Josh sought to find the path to follow. It was in an almost cryptic, mundane way that the faithful received his sign to go to Ukraine.
« I had just opened Facebook on my phone, which I rarely do, and just after asking Him for a sign. I immediately came across a post from the organization » that had just opened a new preparation course. Josh signed up and, step by step, seized the opportunities that opened to him. « I am following God’s plan, which seeks to do good. I don’t know everything, but He does. I have been building my relationship with Him for three years, » concludes the young man.
Volunteers helping the elderly woman into an armoured vehicle
Arriving at a vacant lot on the outskirts of a small town, Josh parks the white van in the shade of a tree, about twenty kilometres from the front. It is here that he will receive civilians evacuated from the front zone. Two round trips in a besieged city are planned for this day. For this purpose, the volunteers have an armoured vehicle, which Josh has been following since the beginning of the journey.
After a U-turn, the grey 4×4 van, nicknamed « the Beast, » parks behind Josh’s van. Ethan, a young man with dark hair and a thick, well-kept beard, gets out. Speaking Russian, he leads the team. He is accompanied by Grace, a young woman with brown hair, a round face behind her glasses, and her hair tied back. With her camera, she oversees the visual communication for the day. On the vacant lot, Ethan and Grace put on their bulletproof vests. With Josh, they finish coordinating before heading to the besieged city.
The two evacuation requests are about ten kilometres from the zero line, in a particularly active area. On the way in the vehicle, Ethan asks for a moment of silence to say a prayer; asking God to guide them, protect them, and ensure the mission’s success.
After the prayer, he activates the anti-drone jamming system. Confident but attentive, Grace and he head to the front. « While driving, I scan the sky, » explains Ethan. From below, birds and drones have the same shape: a black dot in the sky. « But birds flap their wings, you can see that. »
Sitting next to Ethan, in front of an electronic warfare module, Grace describes her journey to Ukraine. For her, God’s call was much more direct. Since 2022, the young woman had wanted to volunteer. Praying to know when to leave, God eventually voiced his approval; « I heard a ‘yes’, » she explains.
This voice, Grace tries to describe it. « The devil’s voice is the one that belittles us, criticizes us, or incites us to harm. » A bit like what a non-believer would call the voice of self-flagellation. « Yes, that’s it! » Grace agrees.
However, God’s voice is not that of our conscience. « Because that voice, we know it’s us talking to ourselves. God’s voice comes from deeper within. We know it’s not ours; it is imbued with love and warmth. »
Handing evacuees to Josh, outside of the front zone
Through the narrow windows of the armoured vehicle, the buildings of the agglomeration pass by. The first rotation goes well. The first civilians, an elderly woman, her daughter, and their dog, are handed over to Josh. Back in the active zone, the second meeting point is on the edge of the fields, on the outskirts of the city; allowing the volunteers to witness the opening landscape.
Opposite, on the other side of the field, two kilometres away, stand the first apartment blocks of the Soviet city. Further away, the field merges into the vast sky. A few buildings, all small, hint at the rest of the city hidden behind the hill. With summer approaching, the sea of wheat gradually turns yellow under the blue sky; thus, little by little, the Ukrainian flag forms as the summer season progresses –
Two loud explosions bring the volunteers back to war, their shockwaves vibrating through their bodies. Behind the apartment blocks, a column of beige smoke rises. In the distance, from behind the hill, a thick and dark mass of smoke grows against the blue sky. From there on, no more than ten minutes will pass without an explosion, near or far. A realization grips the stomach; all around, thunders the sound of men busy tearing each other apart.
Grace advansing as munitions detonates in the vicinity
Calmly, Ethan and Grace introduce themselves and interact with the two elderly people to be evacuated. They, a few bags, and their animals are piled into the grey armoured vehicle. The couple seems happy to leave the bombings. Although they had hoped the war would not come to their city, to be able to continue living there, a sense of relief is palpable. Their gratitude towards the volunteers is openly expressed.
For Grace, beyond the gratitude of the people she helps evacuate, her satisfaction is primarily spiritual. Like Josh, she follows God’s plan; like a compass, it indicates to her her place in the world and guides her to where she can do good. « God wants good, our actions must be an extension of His compassion, » Grace explains.
Thus, only God’s help and benevolence are supposed to implement His plan. By extension, for these religious groups, any act of violence is prohibited. According to some interpretations, even self-defence is therefore forbidden.
Ethan taking encaged chicken into the « Beast »
Back in the shade of the tree on the vacant lot, far from the bombings, the volunteers organize for the rest of the day. The first group of evacuees, the elderly woman with her daughter and their dog, remain in Josh’s vehicle. They will be taken directly to an IDP center. As for the elderly couple with their animals, they are to meet a family member who plans to house them. They remain in the « Beast. »
The presence of these volunteers, calm and serene throughout the day, seems paradoxical to their environment. These young people, rejecting all violence, are nevertheless where the brutality of men finds its place; war. In this context, they have come to bring the compassion they are capable of, where the need for humanity is most pressing.
At man’s height, between the lines — Little Frenchy
03/11/2025