Dr Paul Allen

The Story: Hundreds of people—including the dean of an evangelical seminary—were found massacred by Russian military forces in a suburb of Kyiv. The Background: Russian armed forces are accused of numerous war crimes—including murder, torture, and rape—as they were withdrawing from the Ukrainian suburb of Bucha. Evidence of the massacre was uncovered ​​on Friday, April 1, when hundreds of civilians in the city were found dead. According to multiple social media reports, the dean of the Slavic Evangelical Seminary in Kyiv, Ukraine, was among the murdered civilians. The body of Vitaliy Vinogradov, a graduate of the Kyiv Bible Institute and the Evangel Theological Seminary, was found on a street in Bucha. The total number of victims is still unknown. About 280 bodies were found buried in a mass grave in Bucha. Associated Press journalists also saw the bodies of at least 21 people in various spots around Bucha, some around a site that residents said Russian troops used as a base. Some of t...

At a rally in Moscow on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin paraphrased John 15:13 to justify the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which has killed hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children. During his speech at the rally held in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium to “celebrate” the eighth anniversary of Crimea’s annexation, which is not recognized by most countries, Putin lauded the Russian military for “heroically” fighting in Ukraine. “You know, I remember the words from the Bible. There is no other love rather than if someone gives soul for their friends,” Putin said, according to the BBC broadcast of his speech. The remark was followed by huge applause from the crowd.  Putin’s remark was a reference to John 15:13, which states: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” “We are seeing the heroic deeds of our guys in this operation,” Putin added, according to the CNN translation. “These words from the holy scripture of Christianity, it’s so...