​In early 2023, I filmed a segment for Back to Bucha featuring charismatic/Pentecostal Pastor Oleg Regetsiy of the Church of the Glory of the Lord in Lviv.

At the time, he was conducting an online service with his displaced congregation, many of whom had fled Kharkiv in the early days of the war. While Oleg and his family have since returned to Kharkiv, most of his congregation has not.

In the video below, we see a Wednesday evening Bible study with Oleg’s family and a few parishioners. They translated the service into English for me, though they generally speak Russian, as Kharkiv is predominantly Russian-speaking. The gathering included scripture reading, discussion, and prayer.

Despite the ongoing threat of missiles and drones, Kharkiv is far from destroyed. The city boasts the nicest grocery store I've ever seen and a dazzling mall. Sirens are constant, but so are cafés, stores, and resilient people, many of whom never left, even during heavy fighting in 2022.

Kharkiv, like Bucha, is a story of victory. Ukrainian forces successfully pushed the Russians out in May 2022, and life, along with religious and other freedoms one expects from European democracies, persists—something Moscow’s autocrat can’t tolerate.

​I guess he’ll just have to get used to it.

In Irpin, we visit the thriving Irpin Bible Church, led by Pastor Mykola Romaniuk. 

This dynamic, modern Baptist congregation is filled with families, refugees, and an evangelical spirit that has led to the baptism of more than 130 souls since the war began. The church’s story took a dramatic turn in February 2022, when Russia invaded from the north. Russian forces shelled the area from occupied Bucha as they attempted to advance on Kyiv. They came close—but were ultimately halted in Irpin and forced to retreat.

The attached short video briefly captures a typical Sunday service, as well as an interview with Pastor Romaniuk including a dismantling of the disinformation that Ukraine persecutes Christians. In the he also shares how faith, hope, service, and fellowship help sustain the faithful through wartime, and can actually strengthen both the church and its members. For more about the church and pastor check out: Irpin Bible Church – Irpin, Ukraine.

Pastor Mykola Romaniuk

Introduction

​Beyond Bucha is a journey through the evangelical heart of Ukraine—part documentary, part travelogue, and wholly focused on faith under fire.

Shot across eastern and southern Ukraine in September and October 2024, this third film in the series visits both familiar places from Back to Bucha—like Kyiv, Bucha, and Irpin—and new front-line cities such as Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa.

While the Sunday services, evangelical pastors, and worship bands resemble evangelical gatherings throughout America, what makes them profoundly poignant is that they can only happen in free Ukraine. In territories under Russian occupation, such gatherings are banned. Evangelical pastors are arrested. Churches are closed or repurposed. Faith, in these zones, becomes a crime.

​A central aim of Beyond Bucha is to expose the existential threat Ukrainian evangelicals face if Russia is allowed to continue its war unchecked. While some voices in the West—like Tucker Carlson—have falsely suggested Ukraine persecutes Christians, the reality is the opposite: in Russian-occupied areas, evangelicals are targeted and violently suppressed. The film seeks to correct this misinformation and call fellow believers in the U.S.—including members of Congress who claim Christian values—to stand with Ukrainian Christians whose churches, ministries, and very lives are at risk.

Chapter 1: Bucha

In Bucha, we revisit familiar faces, including Julia, the café owner featured in Back to Bucha. Her story of returning to rebuild in 2022 was powerful enough—but now, in 2024, she’s opening another spot: Jul’s Coffee and Cocktails. She offers duck breast and tiramisu alongside espresso and faith, not for profit but to restore her city’s economy. A petite cross around her neck reflects a deeper conviction—her belief in God, her country, and Bucha’s future. Hers is just one example of what could be called “faith-based capitalism,” alive and well across Ukraine. For a deeper dive since the initial destruction of her coffee shop in February 2022, check out Back to Bucha (Again) and Insights from Ukraine’s Faith-Based Capitalism.

​At Bethany Baptist Church in Bucha, we meet Pastor Oleksandr Kulbych, a fourth-generation preacher whose great-grandfather was imprisoned during the Soviet era. His congregation still bears the scars of Russian occupation—some members were killed, others are now on the front lines, and PTSD is widespread. Yet the church persists. For more from this Baptist leader check out Bethany Baptist Church - Bucha, Ukraine.