Ukraine’s Children Discover “Keys” to Peace, Strength, and Hope

Ukraine (K4K) — When Keys for Kids Ministries and Mission Eurasia began dreaming about a special devotional for children and teens wounded by war in Ukraine, we knew it had to be more than another printed resource.

It needed to speak to fear.
It needed to help children pray when words were hard to find.
It needed to remind teenagers that God sees them, loves them, and holds them close—even when sirens sound, families are displaced, and the future feels uncertain.

Thanks to generous friends of Keys for Kids Ministries, more than $75,000 was raised to help make this project possible. That support allowed carefully selected Keys for Kids and Unlocked devotional stories to be translated, contextualized, printed, and distributed in Ukraine just in time for Orthodox Easter this year.

And now, after the first distribution of these war-victims devotionals, we are beginning to hear the stories.

Tetiana Kereselidze, a practicing psychologist and director of the Center for Children’s and Youth Creativity, sees these devotionals as both spiritually and emotionally significant. She says Keys for Kids helps children understand difficult words and complex situations in language they can grasp, especially when read with a trusted adult. She also says Unlocked speaks to teenagers with maturity, acknowledging hardship, choice, emotion, good, evil, and the need for safe support. In the context of war, she believes shared reading can become a gentle way to help children talk about fear, loss, pain, and hope.

This is why your generosity matters.

For four-year-old Alina, the devotional arrived during a much-needed season of rest. She came to Mukachevo in Zakarpattia with her parents, Olha and Roman, after enduring endless air-raid sirens and sleepless nights in Kyiv. In the quiet beauty of western Ukraine, the family was finally able to sleep peacefully again.

There, Alina received a Keys for Kids devotional from Viktoria, a Mission Eurasia representative helping care for families during their time away. As Alina’s parents read with her, the stories helped answer questions no child should have to ask—how to face sadness, how to pray when words are hard to find, and how to trust God with an open heart. Her father reminded her that courage is not only refusing to be afraid, but also helping others. Sitting with her parents and her friend Liza, an internally displaced child from Sumy, Alina began discovering “keys” to joy and hope again.

At a sports camp, Andriy Mazur received a copy of Keys for Kids from a teammate. At first, he simply thanked him and put it with his things. But later that evening, exhausted from training, he opened it and read a story about eagles. The devotion explained how eagles soar by trusting the wind—and how people can find strength by trusting God.

That message touched Andriy personally. He realized he often tried to push through tiredness, pressure, and responsibility in his own strength. The next morning, he told his friends, “Strength comes from God!” Through one small devotional, Andriy found encouragement for himself and the courage to share that encouragement with others.

For Diana, 14, and Alina, 11, the gift came during a Reimer Center trip to Gary’s farm in Mykolai-Pole, about 25-miles (40 kilometers) from the front line. The children and teens fed chickens, watched newborn calves, played volleyball, rested in the grass, and enjoyed a rare peaceful day away from the city.

Later, at a church gathering, they received copies of Unlocked, the teen devotional from Keys for Kids Ministries. Diana and Alina had heard about the Bible before, but this devotional gave them space to read for themselves, ask questions, and talk together about faith in a more personal way. Side by side, the two friends began a journey that leaders pray will grow into a deeper relationship with Christ.

That same farm visit became a powerful discipleship opportunity for many children and teens from the Reimer Center. After the farm tour, Serhii, one of the Mission Eurasia leaders, spoke with them about the heart and how God can change hearts that have become hard, tired, or closed. One boy, Vlad, responded thoughtfully: “A heart of stone can’t pump blood; it cannot sustain life.”

Then each young person received Unlocked. Serhii encouraged them to read it day by day, pay attention to Scripture, reflect on the questions, and bring their honest thoughts to God. The farm trip gave them a peaceful day. The devotional gave them something that could keep speaking long after they returned home.

For Nadia Horshkalova, Unlocked met her in a very personal place. Like many teenagers, she was struggling with self-doubt, misunderstandings with friends, hurt feelings, and the emotional burden of war. Air raid alerts and fear for loved ones made everything feel tangled.

One evening, she opened Unlocked and read about God holding a person the way a father holds a little child. One sentence seemed to reach her heart: “You are safe.” Nadia realized she did not have to be strong all the time. Her anxiety did not disappear completely, but something changed. She began holding on to three truths: she was not alone, she could admit fear without staying trapped in it, and God was holding her even when life felt uncertain.

Nelia Dorodko also knows the fear of war. When air raid sirens sound or drones are heard overhead, panic can overwhelm her. One evening, her mother invited her to choose a story from Keys for Kids. Nelia selected “Medicine for Peace,” a story about a girl who could not sleep because of worry and fear.

Later, when another alert sounded, Nelia pressed close to her mother and prayed, “Jesus, I’m scared… please be with me and give me peace.” The sounds outside did not disappear, but inside, her heart grew quieter. Now her devotional travels with her in her backpack, pointing her back to Jesus whenever fear rises.

Because Keys for Kids friends gave, more than $75,000 was raised. Because those gifts were given, the right stories were carefully selected, prepared, printed, and placed into the hands of children and teens at just the right time.

These kids didn’t simply receive books. They received biblical truth in words they could understand. They received a way to pray when they were afraid. They received stories that helped them name their feelings, ask honest questions, and discover that Jesus is near.

In Ukraine, the war is not over. But through God’s Word—and through your partnership—children and teens are hearing that fear does not get the final word. Jesus does.