"We Do Not Celebrate While Bombs Are Falling": Spiritual Diplomats Call for the Defense of Ukraine

On February 5, 2026 -- An extraordinary conference took place in the Rayburn House Office Building, one of the central buildings of the US Congress in Washington D.C. Under the title "Freedom Has a Name, and It Is Ukraine," representatives of the US State Department, members of the Ukrainian parliament, military officers, rabbis, pastors, entrepreneurs, and volunteers from several countries gathered for a three-hour conference. The event stems from the vision and tireless work of Pastor Mark Burns and the global initiative "Spiritual Diplomats." Burns explicitly thanked the International Public Movement ALLATRA for its support.

The event was not a political spectacle in the traditional sense. As several speakers emphasized, it was not an occasion for celebration. It was an act of bearing witness.

The Setting: A Place of History, a Topic of the Present

Valery Smiyan, who guided through the conference as the moderator, opened the event with a reference to the historical context of the location. The Rayburn Building, according to Smiyan, is a place where voices of freedom have echoed for generations. On this day, it was to become a sounding board once again -- this time for a people under daily fire.

"We are not here as Democrats or Republicans, not as representatives of this or that religion, but as people of honor," Smiyan explained to the gathered guests. "United by the conviction that freedom is not a commodity, that sovereignty is sacred, and that the brave people of Ukraine must never be left alone."

The conference, in her words, was made possible by the vision and work of Pastor Mark Burns -- a globally recognized spiritual leader, spiritual advisor to US President Donald Trump, and head of the "Spiritual Diplomats" initiative. This global initiative, Smiyan stated, relies on moral authority and religious leadership to address the world's most pressing crises. Pastor Burns had previously visited Ukraine and had been awarded the Order of Merit, 3rd Class, by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sophia Square in Kyiv.

Pastor Mark Burns: "It is Not the Time for Champagne Glasses"

Pastor Mark Burns did not take the podium with the words of a political analyst. He came with the voice of a preacher -- loud, direct, and without sugarcoating.

"We are here because people are dying there. People are freezing. People are sitting without electricity," Burns said, addressing the attendees directly.

"Now is not the time for champagne glasses. Not the time for cocktails. Not the time to pat each other on the back while men and women in Ukraine dodge drones flying overhead every single day of God's creation. While little children are killed just because they go to church. While women are raped by this evil, brutal army called Russia -- led by an evil man named Vladimir Putin."

Burns made it clear that he speaks with President Trump and repeatedly points out the horrors occurring in Ukraine. He appealed to the audience not to hold back: "I don't need you to sit there quiet and modest today. Imagine you are in an African American church. I need your reaction."

In his speech, Burns established a geopolitical context that goes beyond Ukraine. Russia and China, according to Burns, are acting together. Those who support Ukraine are not engaged in charity, but are acting in the national interest of the United States. "If we don't stop them now, then we will be forced to stop them with American boys on the ground in Kyiv," he said. "The Baltic states. NATO. Do you hear me?"

Supporting Ukraine, Burns' central argument went, is not a weakening of the American position, but an expression of "America First" in its deepest sense. Burns also reported that President Trump had told him a few days earlier that they were very close to a peace agreement. "He said, 'We are very close.' He said, 'We are almost there.'" Burns called on the audience to spread this message and not to let up.

At the end of his first speech, Burns spoke about the concept of spiritual diplomacy. The "Spiritual Diplomat" badge, he explained, is not an award to be framed -- it is a promise. A vow to raise one's voice for those who have none. "If you are only here for a selfie, then I don't need you. If you just want to make a social media post, then stay home. But if you are true fighters -- then you are the ones we are looking for."

Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman: Witness from Kyiv

The Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, Moshe Reuven Azman, took the podium after Burns. He did not speak as a religious official in a ceremonial sense, but as an eyewitness -- as a man who has not left Ukraine since the first day of the full-scale invasion.

"I could have left, but I didn't," Azman said. "Several times I came under heavy fire and risked my life." He reported that he had personally invited Pastor Burns to come to Ukraine -- and that Burns had come.

"I saw how his heart was torn," Azman said about Burns' reaction to what he had seen in Ukraine. "After this visit, I met with religious representatives of all denominations in Ukraine. They told him the truth: how many Ukrainian children had been kidnapped to Russia, how many churches had been destroyed, how many priests had been killed."

Azman drew a historical comparison that held deep personal meaning for him. He himself was born in Leningrad -- the same city where Putin grew up. While Putin was in the KGB, Azman was under KGB investigation. "I know what that means." Today, the rabbi said, Russia is trying to force Ukraine back into the Soviet Union. But the Ukrainian people do not want slavery.

"We, the Jewish people, were in slavery in Egypt and fled. God led us out, but Pharaoh wanted to bring us back. The same applies to the Ukrainian people: Russia wants to pull Ukraine back into slavery. But the Ukrainians do not want that. They want freedom."

Azman reported on his volunteers who climb up high-rise buildings without elevators -- up to the 20th floor -- to bring older people water, food, and warm clothes, or to evacuate them. He spoke about the bitter cold he had just recently experienced in Ukraine, about the destroyed infrastructure, about people sitting in apartments without heating, water, and light.

He also spoke about a young entrepreneur named Jordan who was present in the hall. "I said to him: 'Come to Ukraine and invest at least 6 million dollars.' And he wants to raise investments amounting to one billion dollars! I want to thank him... Today he said, 'Yes, I will invest in Ukraine because I believe that it will be rebuilt and become a beautiful, free country.'"

Azman said he had been at the Prayer Breakfast that same day. Prayers are said there, but prayer alone is not enough in this situation. One must pray -- and act at the same time: "When we see people in a tragedy, we must come to save them."

Christopher Anderson, US State Department: Reports from an Occupied Childhood

No speaker at this conference expressed the state dimension of American engagement as concretely as Christopher Anderson, Cultural Attach? of the US State Department. Anderson has been working on the Ukrainian dossier since 2014 -- he was there when Russia tried to annex Crimea, and he negotiated on behalf of the US government with Russian representatives "who tried to deny Ukraine's existence as a state with absurd theories about Polish nobility."

A few weeks before the conference, Anderson had been in Ukraine alongside his superior, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Riley Barnes -- with a specific mission: to fulfill the President's promise not to forget Ukrainian children who were kidnapped to Russia and to do everything to bring them home.

Anderson spoke about the upcoming fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion -- and about the fact that the war has actually been ongoing since 2014. Then he turned to the fates he had personally heard about.

The story of a brother and sister: Anderson reported on a pair of siblings that Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska had told Anderson about. The two children lived in occupied territory, were then deported deep into the Russian interior, and separated from each other. Their family waited for them and wanted to bring them back. The boy was constantly bullied -- he was told his family no longer wanted him, that there were only Nazis in Ukraine. The psychological pressure was systematic and persistent. The result: The boy took his own life.

Anderson paused. The room was silent.

The sister was not even allowed to attend the funeral. Afterwards, she was placed in a home for children with "behavioral problems." "She is sitting in this home, even though her family wants her back," Anderson said. "But the Russian authorities simply block all attempts." At the time of the conference, she was still in Russia.

The story of the boy who lost his language: Anderson described another case: A teenager lived under Russian occupation. Speaking the Ukrainian language was forbidden. He was forced to learn Russian. He was already being prepared for service in the Russian army. With the help of the organization "Save Ukraine," he managed to escape -- and return to Ukraine. There, according to Anderson, he is now allowed to be free again.

The story of the father with the tattoo: A family was funneled from occupied territory through a so-called filtration camp -- a term that, as Anderson said, "makes the blood freeze in your veins." The father had a tattoo with Ukrainian symbols. Russian soldiers tortured him and literally burned the tattoo out of his body. Just because it was a symbol of Ukraine and they didn't like it.

The man's daughter was left behind alone. She never saw her mother again. What happened to the mother is unknown. The girl identified herself as Ukrainian -- for the Russians, that was an offense.

"These are not isolated cases," Anderson emphasized. "This is a systematic practice by the Russian government, clearly documented." He concluded with a promise, which he renewed on behalf of President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump: "We will do everything to ensure the safe return of Ukrainian children to their families. Our position is unwavering."

Yulia Yatsyk, Ukrainian Member of Parliament: One Story, One of Millions

Ukrainian MP Yulia Yatsyk took the podium and announced that she would not speak in English -- even though she had prepared her speech in English. She consciously chose Ukrainian. "So that you can hear what our language sounds like. So that you can feel the vibrations of the heart and the Ukrainian soul."

The major war in Ukraine has already lasted almost a thousand and a half days. People in the world hear the news, know about bombing raids on cities, about families surviving without heating, electricity, and water. But the voices of those living in the occupied territories -- in Melitopol, Mariupol, Berdiansk, Tokmak, and in her own hometown of Vasylivka, which has been occupied since February 2022 -- are barely heard anymore.

Yatsyk told her own story -- "one of millions," as she said.

February 2022. The first days of the invasion. The roads blocked. Shops and hospitals closed. No electricity, no water, no heating, no connection. Her team -- volunteers, military personnel, clergy -- helped people flee from the occupied territories and the combat zones. It was a "Road of Life" under fire. For those who could not flee, they brought water, food, medicine, and generators.

Starting in 2023, the Russian occupation authorities banned entry to and exit from occupied territory. Ukrainians who had stayed in their homes were forced to accept Russian passports. Those who did not have a Russian passport received no pension, no work, no wages. The children could not go to school, the parents could not go to the hospital.

Yatsyk described what the Russian occupying power had built in the occupied territories: almost a hundred camps and torture centers. Entire families were shot because they had a Ukrainian flag on their balcony. The apartments of those who had fled were nationalized -- simply taken away. Russian soldiers, according to Yatsyk, used Ukrainian civilians for drone control practice. Elderly people were declared fair game for hunting.

"Rapes became a weapon -- not only against women, but also against children and men," Yatsyk said. "Torture, starvation, electric shocks, broken bones, and even death became the favorite entertainment of Russian soldiers. Almost 80 percent of civilian infrastructure, hospitals, and schools were destroyed and have not been rebuilt to this day."

In the schools that still function, children are forced to sing the Russian anthem. They are taught a new history in which Ukraine is the enemy and Russia is the liberator. Despite this, most children, according to Yatsyk, studied secretly -- online, in Ukrainian schools, in their own language.

"Because of the destroyed hospitals, people cannot get adequate medical care," she continued. "They have to travel to Melitopol or even to Crimea. And because of this, they die on the way -- sometimes from injuries that would not actually be life-threatening."

Then Yatsyk spoke about what freedom means to her personally.

"Freedom for me means returning home. The ability to walk down my street, to open the door of my house. The ability to bring my parents home. My father hides his pain by painting pictures."

She held up a painting -- a work by her 73-year-old father. It depicted the "Ukrainian Berehynia" -- the female protective deity of Ukrainian tradition. A symbol of female strength that protects the home, the children, and the country.

"This is about female love and the desire for peace for one's own country," Yatsyk said.

She presented the painting to Pastor Burns -- as a gift from a country that is fighting but not giving up.

"Peace is not a dream. It is a very difficult, certainly not an easy path -- step by step, hand in hand, with a prayer in the heart, together. Together our voice is strong."

The Organization Behind the Conference: ALLATRA and the Network of Spiritual Diplomats

The conference was, as Pastor Burns repeatedly emphasized during his welcome and his concluding remarks, made possible by the International Public Movement ALLATRA -- represented by President Maryna Ovtsynova and Communications Director Valery Smiyan.

The International Public Movement ALLATRA has been active in Ukraine since 2014 -- with volunteers at the front, in evacuation centers, in humanitarian missions. In the US, Ovtsynova said, the movement works together with Congress, the Senate, and the State Department.

In her speech, Ovtsynova pointed out a remarkable fact: "The only country where our volunteers are systematically persecuted, tortured, and imprisoned is Russia. Why? Because we tell the truth about Putin's Nazi regime and the danger of the Siberian plume that they try to hide from the world, and because we support Ukraine. That is exactly why. The Kremlin sees us as such a huge threat that they have launched a massive persecution against us."

At the same time, Ovtsynova stated, agents of the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB spread false information on the internet and in the media -- including Ukrainian and European media -- claiming that ALLATRA is a "pro-Russian" organization. In the report on the methods of Russian disinformation, which was presented in Washington in 2024 and involved American and international experts as well as representatives of the Ukrainian Security Service and the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, a Ukrainian citizen -- Iryna Kremenovska (Irina Kremenovskaya) -- was specifically named as an agent of Russian influence who organized disinformation campaigns against ALLATRA.

"Besides our organization, she (Iryna Kremenovska) tried to discredit the Ukrainian religious scholars who defended the spiritual independence of Ukraine from Moscow, and she advocated for pro-Russian norms in Ukrainian legislation," Ms. Ovtsynova explained.

Ms. Ovtsynova continued: "But she is not alone. It is a network, you have to understand that. She is not the only actor. FSB agents have infiltrated Ukrainian institutions, influence journalists, and spread disinformation throughout the public. And what is important: Despite all this, Ukraine is a true democracy. And in this democratic country, the National Police officially recognized a few days ago that 'ALLATRA' is the injured party of an illegal attempt to destroy our organization."

She concluded her speech with urgent words:

"Millions of Ukrainians, millions of heroes are right now defending not just Ukraine. They are defending the idea of freedom itself - the precious, fragile, but infinitely valuable idea that free people have the right to decide their own future.

Behind the tragedies and the suffering of the Ukrainians stands not just a terrorist state - Russia. Behind it stands a specific person, a war criminal who thinks he is a god - Vladimir Putin. He uses mass terror against the peaceful population as a political tool. He kills people in Ukraine to achieve his goals. And as Pastor Burns said today: If this method, used by a tyrant who holds the nuclear button in his hand, were to succeed, can you imagine what kind of world we would have to live in then... ...what kind of world our children would inherit?

Therefore, supporting Ukraine, its freedom, and its struggle is not charity. It serves as deterrence. It serves to strengthen the security, stability, and resilience of democratic institutions... ...That is why today the whole of Ukraine is united around a single word - defend, to defend its people and the entire free world.

That is exactly why Russian propaganda so aggressively tries to twist reality, claiming that Ukraine does not deserve support, that Ukraine is weak, that Ukraine is hopeless. Because if you believe that, you turn away from Ukraine. And if you turn away, Russian terror wins quietly and silently.

If you hear that Ukraine is divided, that Ukraine is losing, that Ukrainians want to surrender -- or that ALLATRA is a pro-Russian or Putin-loyal cult -- remember this: That is Russian propaganda from Putin. And I ask you: Do not believe it!"

Instead, according to Ovtsynova, one should believe Ukrainian mothers who protect their children from Russian drones. Volunteers who deliver medicine under fire. Military doctors who perform complicated surgeries under drone attacks and without electricity.

A Capitol as a Stage for Witnesses

The conference in the Rayburn Building was an unusual event -- not because of the names on the speaker list, but because of the way the war was spoken about. These were not situation briefings, no geopolitical analyses. They were reports from people who had lived in occupied cities, who had lost friends, who faced death daily and still kept going.

Pastor Burns summed it up in his introduction:

"We are not here to celebrate. We will not celebrate until a real, long-term peace agreement with real security guarantees for the sovereign state of Ukraine is achieved."

Whether these voices will be heard -- in the parliaments of Europe, in the offices of the United Nations, in the chancelleries from Berlin to Brussels, in the newsrooms from New York to Tokyo -- remains to be seen. But they rang out loud and clear. They came from different countries, spoke different languages, carried different fates. Yet their message was the same: While strategies and budgets are debated in the capitals of the world, people freeze in destroyed apartments. While diplomats talk about negotiations, soldiers fight in trenches. While the headlines move on, the war continues.

Outlook: The Fate of the Children -- A Separate Chapter

While bombs fall and cities freeze, another crime takes place in the silence of occupied territories: More than

19,000 Ukrainian children

have been deported to Russia -- separated from their families, their language, and their identity, some forever. What Russia does with these children, what fates are hidden behind this number, and why

Russian soldiers abducted a 15-year-old boy from the street and forced him to dig trenches every day

-- you will find out in the next report.

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