This is a fight between darkness and light, says front-line pastor

Yevgen Yakushev says the people of Ukraine “have to be strong”
Yevgen Yakushev is helping towards the “100 cars for the Armed Forces of Ukraine” project
PA
John Dunne @jhdunne30 May 2022

A Ukrainian pastor from London who has been delivering aid to his home country has said the war is “between evil and good, darkness and light”.

Yevgen Yakushev, a minister at the International Christian Church of Faith in Barnet, quit his construction job the day after Russia’s February invasion to dedicate his time to the war effort — spending the last three months speaking at rallies outside Downing Street and organising aid full-time.

The 46-year-old, who has lived in the UK for two decades, is in Ukraine for several weeks as part of a group initiative to drive 100 cars to deliver aid to the front line.

“It’s terrible. It’s difficult, but the people have to be strong,” Mr Yakushev said.

“This fight is not just between Ukraine and Russia, it’s between evil and good, darkness and light. And I’m a pastor of a church, I’m on the light side. We want people to be free.”

Mr Yakushev said his wife’s 24-year-old nephew was killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine, and many in his family — from Mariupol — have been caught up in the conflict.

He has been helping to source and drive cars from the UK to the front line as part of the “100 cars for the Armed Forces of Ukraine” project.

Ahead of a new trip to Zaporizhzhia, the last major Ukrainian-controlled city before the south-eastern front, Mr Yakushev said: “It’s my land, my people. My heart is there.”

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