{"id":56,"date":"2025-09-07T21:24:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T01:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/?p=56"},"modified":"2025-11-07T15:43:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T20:43:22","slug":"week-2-discussion-post-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/week-2-discussion-post-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 2 Discussion Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cA Faith Under Siege\u201d challenges the narrative, which some conservatives have propagated, that Ukrainians are targeting Christians. In the documentary, a group of evangelical Christians from the U.S. travel to the frontlines of the war in Ukraine. They reveal the ways in which evangelical Christians in Ukraine have been targeted by Russians and demonstrate how the Russian Orthodox Church is a state agent. The documentary challenges the Kremlin\u2019s portrayal of Ukraine as the aggressor and exposes Russia\u2019s abduction, indoctrination, and militarization of children. To the evangelical Americans, Russia\u2019s mistreatment of Ukrainian children is part of its attack on pro-family and evangelical values\u2013and, more broadly, religious freedom everywhere.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I found parts of this documentary moving. It is an example of the way shared beliefs can compel people to put themselves at risk and advocate for a vulnerable group. The evangelical Americans who traveled to the frontlines were drawn to support evangelical Ukrainians, though they may share little else with them than religion. The resulting documentary challenges a belief that members of their American communities at home may hold: that Russians, not Ukrainians, have been victimized. In this respect, the production of \u201cA Faith Under Siege\u201d allowed a small group of Americans\u2013and by extension, audiences at home\u2013to gain a deeper understanding of the Ukrainian experience of war today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, I have questions about the legitimacy of the documentary\u2019s claims. Is it true, for instance, that the Russian Orthodox Church is targeting Ukrainian Evangelicals disproportionately? Or, rather, does the Russian Orthodox Church target churches in Ukraine to lower morale and divide civilians, and not necessarily to obliterate evangelicalism? And, how true is it, if at all, that Ukraine targets Christians? Where did this claim come from? Finally, will evangelical advocates help civilians of other faiths?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless, the other readings from this week affirm that faith-based action is insufficient to help Ukraine protect its citizens. Instead, Zelensky pushes for a broader vision of unity, one that integrates other European countries, along with the U.S., into Ukraine\u2019s fight against Russia. In Europe and overseas, the effects of Russia\u2019s invasion have been impossible to ignore. While the war has pushed Ukrainians to seek asylum in nearby countries, far-right politics has gained ground. Ukrainian refugees arrive in Germany in droves at the same time as conservative voices push to close borders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Countering this attitude of separation, Zelensky pushes for unity. European countries may put their own national security at risk if they ignore this plea. Deb reports in her Substack that Russia has recently ramped up its use of drones in warfare, making civilian life more dangerous. In response, Ukraine started a program to shoot down Russian drones. This is a small solution to a pressing threat: drones are changing warfare\u2013and global politics\u2013at an alarming speed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While drones have unleashed new possibilities for Russian attacks, they have also been essential to Ukraine’s defense. In the \u201cdrone race\u201d underway, whichever country\u2013Russia or Ukraine\u2013advances and scales drone technology more quickly will gain a massive advantage. Russia has the resources to do this. Ukraine does not. For Ukraine to outpace Russia in its use of drones, it needs support from abroad. And for Ukraine\u2019s allies, ignoring this need could have disastrous consequences. As <\/span>The Philadelphia Inquirer <\/span><\/i>reports, \u201cTrump\u2019s coddling of Putin only speeds Russia\u2019s advancement in the new global drone wars, which could boomerang against Washington all too soon.\u201d Which is to say: if Trump does not invest in Ukraine\u2019s military technology, it will empower a dictatorial bloc including China, Iran, and North Korea, who are already learning from\u2013and aiding\u2013Russia\u2019s use of drones. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA Faith Under Siege\u201d challenges the narrative, which some conservatives have propagated, that Ukrainians are targeting Christians. In the documentary, a group of evangelical Christians from the U.S. travel to the frontlines of the war in Ukraine. They reveal the ways in which evangelical Christians in Ukraine have been targeted by Russians and demonstrate how<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4790,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4790"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/migration-reporting2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}