As tensions escalate over Ukraine, the United Kingdom released a statement Saturday, revealing “Russian activity designed to subvert Ukraine,” specifically intelligence indicating that “the Russian Government is looking to install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv as it considers whether to invade and occupy Ukraine.”
The U.K. Foreign Minister reported that the U.K. has information that there are “Russian intelligence officers currently involved in the planning for an attack on Ukraine,” and that integral to planning by Russian intelligence, includes maintaining “links with numerous former Ukrainian politicians.”
“[F]ormer Ukrainian MP Yevhen Murayev is being considered as a potential candidate,” according to the U.K., as a viable option by the Kremlin, specifically as they look “to install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv.”
Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, is where the Mariinskyi Palace sits; the official residence of current Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Revelation of the alleged plot by Russian intelligence officers to oust Ukrainian leaders, specifically in Kyiv, comes on the heels of a warning issued by U.S. Secretary State Blinken, to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, that efforts by Russia against Ukraine, “to destabilize it, topple its government, hybrid actions, cyber-attacks, et cetera.,” would be met in a “swift, severe, and united way… proportionate to what Russia does,” by Ukraine’s allies, including the United States.
The situation continues to escalate in Ukraine, as the U.S. State Department issued an order Saturday directing the families of U.S. Embassy personnel stationed in Ukraine to begin evacuating the country as early as Monday. This comes as the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv reported the arrival of “the first shipment of assistance recently directed by President Biden to Ukraine,” including “close to 200,000 pounds of lethal aid, as well as ammunition for the front-line defenders of Ukraine.”
“All the signs are on the table of a soon, immediate, Russian invasion into Ukraine,” says Amir Tsarfati, President of Behold Israel.
Biblical Relevance
As Pastor John MacArthur explains, geopolitical disturbances are among the signs that will be observed in an “escalating fashion, an increasingly worse fashion” as the time of Christ’s Second Coming approaches. As Jesus explained in Matthew 24:3-8, “wars and rumors of wars” including geopolitical turmoil, in which “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,” is a sign of the approaching end of the age.
Bible prophecy teacher Amir Tsarfati has emphasized that the situation in Eastern Europe has caused “panic in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, all the Baltics,” as Russia has militarily surrounded Ukraine, including placing soldiers in Belarus. The situation certainly qualifies as falling within the eschatological category of “wars and rumors of wars.”
The signs of the end of the age described by Jesus, including “wars and rumors of wars,” can be a cause of fear for some. Yet, for those who know and love Jesus Christ, rather than becoming afraid, we find courage, in the words of hope spoken by Jesus, recorded in Luke 21:28, “when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
Increasing geopolitical unrest in the world is a sign. It is a warning that time is short; and that, as the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
If you don’t know Jesus Christ, don’t delay in making the most important decision that you’ll ever make – “behold, now is the day of salvation,” right now is the accepted time, to come to experience the assurance of salvation, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ – including forgiveness of sin, salvation, the hope of heaven.
