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An American who now calls the central Ukrainian city of Svitlovodsk home has decided to stay put amid Russia’s invasion to provide shelter and aid to the refugees who are escaping the violence by fleeing west.
Benjamin Morrison, who moved to Ukraine from Indiana in 2002 and is now a pastor at Calvary Chapel about 180 miles southeast of Kyiv, said his family knew they had to stay when Russian forces invaded.
“We thought through these things, we prayed through these things, obviously, as believers,” Morrison told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “For us, really, it was never an option of, maybe we’ll just leave. We believe that this is the place that God’s called us to.”
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Morrison, his wife, and two teenage children have been sheltering and feeding refugees in their Church, which he said is a “stopover point” for refugees fleeing the east.
“We’re able to meet them as they come in, shaken usually, especially the last day and a half,” Morrison said. “I mean, if we take off now, who’s going to serve them? Right?”
Morrison’s home church, Horizon Christian Fellowship in Indianapolis, is now raising funds to support his efforts in Ukraine.
His family has been in and out of a bomb shelter for the past week, but their city has been mostly spared of the worst of Russia’s attack.
Russian forces have launched hundreds of missiles on sites throughout Ukraine in recent days and seized Kherson, a southern port on the Black Sea that was the first city to fall.
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Despite their advances, Ukrainians – both the military and regular civilians – have put up a staunch defense.
“There was kind of that shock and awe of massive bombing that they did early in the morning [last] Thursday. So people started to figure out how things were going to be for a little while. That initial wave of adrenaline sort of wore off, and instead, resolve has set in,” Morrison said, “This is our home, these are our families, we’re not just going to let this happen.”
Russian and Ukrainian officials gathered in Belarus for a second round of peace talks, and while a cease-fire was not negotiated, the delegations did agree to safety corridors for refugees fleeing the violence.
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More than one million people have already fled Ukraine as the UN predicts up to four million could be displaced.
“Hour by hour, minute by minute, more people are fleeing the terrifying reality of violence. Countless have been displaced inside the country,” Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said Thursday. “And unless there is an immediate end to the conflict, millions more are likely to be forced to flee Ukraine.”
