While Russian propaganda claims Ukraine persecutes Christians, evidence from occupied territories tells a different story: pastors are tortured with electrodes and needles for refusing to transform their confession booths into FSB listening posts.
Hunted by Russia in occupied Ukraine, evangelical Christians became Kyiv's secret weapon in Congress, swaying US Republicans where Zelenskyy's efforts fell flat.
Aiming to reshape occupied areas, Russia cracks down on evangelical churches in occupied Ukraine, seen as instruments of US influence, while bolstering the Russian Orthodox Church.
From a Protestant pastor imprisoned for his American citizenship, to an Orthodox bishop pressured to embrace the "Russian World," to an evangelical church shuttered after sheltering the displaced, the stories of religious persecution in occupied Ukraine are as diverse as they are devastating.
Russia's full-scale Ukraine invasion extinguishing religious freedom through church destruction, clergy arrests/killings, prompting church leader's appeal for unblocked US aid.