Ukraine continues to face attacks from Russia, causing daily missile strikes and power grid threats. Dale Armstrong, director of the Armada Network and board member of the American Pastors Network, has witnessed Ukraine’s transformation for 32 years and offers perspective on its progress.
Armstrong moved to Ukraine in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse. “Ukraine came out of the ashes of a destroyed Soviet empire, a destroyed Soviet economy in 1993,” he says. “I would move around Ukraine and see the effects of communism, see the effects of that Marxist ideology, and then watch the society emerge out of that into something new.” He says that critics who dismiss Ukraine as corrupt fail to understand the path of progress. “For whatever they want to criticize, the sad thing is, if you turn the coin, it is an amazing journey to see the roots of liberty.”
According to Armstrong, the Russian invasion is not about geopolitics alone but about confronting evil. “We don’t perhaps recognize that evil is real,” he says. “And I think it’s very parallel to what took place in Europe in 1936 through 1939, when there was this reality check that Hitler was not as nice as he was portraying him. The mask has to come off of Putin. He is an evil, vicious animal and he’s bent on death and destruction.”
Despite destruction across the country, Armstrong says the resilience of Ukrainians is breathtaking. “Back in 22 when the full-scale invasion began, every air raid was really nerve wracking. And you watched as the years passed, literally how people accommodate and make their own decisions. Most places now, if you’re in a café, the air raid will go off and no one even stops eating. They just continue to move forward. They’re incredibly resilient people.”
This has been visible in Ukraine’s rebuilding efforts, even close to the front lines. “They have built four new schools underground, three stories below the ground, so that the children can go to school without interruptions. One school does 500 children at a time, and they do two shifts a day. When you walk down three flights of steps, you don’t even realize you’re underground. There’s children laughing and running in the hall.”
Armstrong says that U.S. policy must recognize the stakes of the conflict. “Ukraine is about 700,000 battle-hardened soldiers, and that’s a force multiplier of about ten. NATO only has 300,000. NATO came out with a report it would take them four months to spin up enough soldiers to face Putin. It’s not just a Ukraine issue. It’s a European issue.” He believes Ukraine is the “answer” to Russia’s aggression and warns against appeasement. “When they want to give away Crimea, they want to give away Donbas—if someone invaded and captured Florida, would you really give it away? Or are you an American?”
Armstrong recalls visiting Bucha a year after it was attacked. “Streets were swept clean. It was like going to Gettysburg in the United States,” he says. “Children were playing, and it had been probably a year since I had broken down and cried. But seeing the joy, the life, the resilience of the people, it was amazing.”
Through the Armada Network, Armstrong supports Ukrainian pastors who carry out evacuations and deliver food and medical supplies in reclaimed areas. “Please pray for Ukrainian pastors and help us empower them. These guys just keep going back in and bringing people while we do medical deliveries and resupply hospitals.”
Armstrong says America needs to “wake up” and realize that war is not limited to Ukraine. “The war is on many fronts, and one of them is an information war. The propaganda that Putin is engaging in is at such a high level it’s scary, which makes it the potential of a global war.”
