EXCLUSIVE: A Ukrainian woman tells the REAL story of life in war-torn Ukraine.

September 12, 2023

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Secretary of State Blinken just announced an additional $1 billion in aid to Ukraine during his surprise visit to Kiev. That brings the total sum of US aid sent to Ukraine to a whopping $76 BILLION. What's more? Biden asked for an additional $24 billion in aid destined for Ukraine. $100 BILLION later, and the war is STILL raging. Is there any end in site?

The answer is a resounding NO with the Biden administration continually touting the confident yet ambiguous declaration, "As long as it takes." What does that exactly entail? Will we continue to escalate our weapons shipments until Russia retaliates? Will we follow Ukraine into World War III? As long as the US unabashedly continues to aid Ukraine without a clear policy in mind, the war and its turmoil will continue...indefinitely.

Is there any end in site? The answer is a resounding NO.

From across the pond, it is difficult to put the continued toll of the war in perspective. However, the Ukrainian people encounter the heartwrenching realities of war every day. To give you a glimpse into the daily life of the Ukrainian people living in their war-torn country, a Blaze employee sat down with a Ukrainian woman living in the US, who opened up about her experiences during her trips to her homeland.

The Ukrainian people encounter the heartwrenching realities of war every day.

Her testimony paints a vivid picture of the harsh realities that the Ukrainians endure on a daily basis. As long as the war continues with no end in sight, their suffering will continue. One thing is clear: our leaders must demand an end to this war. The Ukrainian people deserve it.

To learn more about the REAL situation in Ukraine, be sure to tune into Glenn's special on Ukraine TOMORROW at 8:00 p.m. CT on Blaze TV. Here are the highlights from our sit-down with the Ukrainian woman, who wished to remain anonymous. The following has been edited for clarity and readability.

What is the state of morale of the Ukrainian people?

“I saw many people who are holding on very strong, but when you touch them, when you give them a hug, they just break. They cry. And it’s such a deep cry… Because they cannot show their children that they are broken and there is no hope. They have to be strong for their kids and for [their] grandchildren."

How has the war taken a toll on the average citizen?

“Everything changed. They live in a war zone. I am from the western [region of Ukraine], and what you have there are people who are working for the front. There is lots going on. People are cooking or providing for people who are fighting. They’re sending buses of food and clothes and whatever is needed… [Western Ukraine] provides help."

What are some of the personal stories that you have witnessed?

“I was at home, and [my sister] went on a walk with her husband and two children. Ten minutes later they were running back because they got the message on their phone that the rockets entered the Ukrainian sky, and they were flying towards our city.”

So the Ukrainian government sends people notifications?

“Yes, they get the notifications that the rockets are flying, which say, ‘Ok, they’re flying towards Kiev… or they’re flying towards this particular city. The trouble with this is that the rockets can change their direction. They always warn people on their phones. That’s what happened while I was there.”

You mentioned poverty. What does that look like for Ukrainians in day to day life?

“Compared to three years ago, bread is four times as much, so, it’s very expensive. It’s very hard to live. The state of life is not easy right now. People who have relatives overseas can survive. But for people who have none, it’s practically impossible to survive there. People there know how to survive on a little. It’s interesting, the mentality. They know how to survive on bread and water. If they don’t have food, they fast.”

How else has the war taken a toll on the average citizen?

"The war changed everything, but the biggest [change] is that they lost peace. They are haunted by the thought that they could be next. [The Russians] can kill them. [Russians] can attack their city, their home. My mom said that out of [her] seven children, I am the only one in a safe region [because] I live in America. She says, ‘Be grateful for the peace you have. Be grateful for the safety you have, because we don’t have that. We don’t have tomorrow. [We] can plan, [we] can have birthday parties, but we don’t know what’s going to happen today or in the evening or at night. If they’re going to bomb us, if they’re going to kill us. We don’t have tomorrow.’ That’s what my mom says.”

You mentioned that there are no young men left. How has that affected the country? How are the women and children providing for themselves?

“You have a nation that is fatherless and a nation of widows. There are lots of widows and orphans. When I was driving to my brother-in-law’s town, there was a display of young men who had been killed, pictures of young men [on] a town hall, [on a banner] who lived in that town, who were drafted and killed. I asked my brother-in-law, ‘How is it going here?’ He said, ‘They are taking our men. They are killing our young men. The working force, fathers, husbands. They need to go [fight in] the war, but you have unprotected children and wives and mothers who are left there. But, little by little, because of the war, they are killing young men. The towns are wiped out of young [men]. In my city where I walked, there are no young men walking [around], not many. This is the saddest part for me, that there are young guys who are fathers with young kids who have to fight. Husbands and sons, uncles, nephews... they’re gone.”

What was life like while living under communism?

"It was not easy to live under the communist system. I was a part of that. I experienced that. And when communism fell, I was 15 or 16. When we finally got this independence in 1991, we could live the way we want, like normal people live. [We could] say what we want, eat what we want, dress ourselves the way we want. We wanted to be our own people, you know? But the Soviet system was very gray. You wore the same clothes, you were going to the same school system--there were no private schools."

"The system was against Christianity, as well. They called us ‘gray mass.’ I remember this. They would always say, ‘If you stay gray and low, you will be ok. As long as you stay low and gray and do what they ask you to do, you’re fine. But as soon as you stick out and speak out and you are different, they will shoot you. They will put you in prison. They will poison you. They will find a way to get rid of you because you are different. So in 1991, it was like we want to be [free]. But now they are trying to put us back under their dominion.”

What does winning look like to Ukrainians?

“They just want Russians off our land. They don’t want [the Russians] to tell them what to do. We want to be free, and we want to live our lives, and work for ourselves, and feed our children. Our fault is that we are on the good soil and that we’re a hardworking people.”

Colorado counselor fights back after faith declared “illegal”

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The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins Megyn Kelly LIVE — One night ONLY in Fort Worth!

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This promises to be more than just an interview — it’s a live showdown packed with wit, honesty, and the kind of energy you can only feel if you are in the room. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance to see Glenn like you’ve never seen him before.

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What our response to Israel reveals about us

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I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

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And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

When did Americans start cheering for chaos?

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Every time we look away from lawlessness, we tell the next mob it can go a little further.

Chicago, Portland, and other American cities are showing us what happens when the rule of law breaks down. These cities have become openly lawless — and that’s not hyperbole.

When a governor declares she doesn’t believe federal agents about a credible threat to their lives, when Chicago orders its police not to assist federal officers, and when cartels print wanted posters offering bounties for the deaths of U.S. immigration agents, you’re looking at a country flirting with anarchy.

Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic.

This isn’t a matter of partisan politics. The struggle we’re watching now is not between Democrats and Republicans. It’s between good and evil, right and wrong, self‑government and chaos.

Moral erosion

For generations, Americans have inherited a republic based on law, liberty, and moral responsibility. That legacy is now under assault by extremists who openly seek to collapse the system and replace it with something darker.

Antifa, well‑financed by the left, isn’t an isolated fringe any more than Occupy Wall Street was. As with Occupy, big money and global interests are quietly aligned with “anti‑establishment” radicals. The goal is disruption, not reform.

And they’ve learned how to condition us. Twenty‑five years ago, few Americans would have supported drag shows in elementary schools, biological males in women’s sports, forced vaccinations, or government partnerships with mega‑corporations to decide which businesses live or die. Few would have tolerated cartels threatening federal agents or tolerated mobs doxxing political opponents. Yet today, many shrug — or cheer.

How did we get here? What evidence convinced so many people to reverse themselves on fundamental questions of morality, liberty, and law? Those long laboring to disrupt our republic have sought to condition people to believe that the ends justify the means.

Promoting “tolerance” justifies women losing to biological men in sports. “Compassion” justifies harboring illegal immigrants, even violent criminals. Whatever deluded ideals Antifa espouses is supposed to somehow justify targeting federal agents and overturning the rule of law. Our culture has been conditioned for this moment.

The buck stops with us

That’s why the debate over using troops to restore order in American cities matters so much. I’ve never supported soldiers executing civilian law, and I still don’t. But we need to speak honestly about what the Constitution allows and why. The Posse Comitatus Act sharply limits the use of the military for domestic policing. The Insurrection Act, however, exists for rare emergencies — when federal law truly can’t be enforced by ordinary means and when mobs, cartels, or coordinated violence block the courts.

Even then, the Constitution demands limits: a public proclamation ordering offenders to disperse, transparency about the mission, a narrow scope, temporary duration, and judicial oversight.

Soldiers fight wars. Cops enforce laws. We blur that line at our peril.

But we also cannot allow intimidation of federal officers or tolerate local officials who openly obstruct federal enforcement. Both extremes — lawlessness on one side and militarization on the other — endanger the republic.

The only way out is the Constitution itself. Protect civil liberty. Enforce the rule of law. Demand transparency. Reject the temptation to justify any tactic because “our side” is winning. We’ve already seen how fear after 9/11 led to the Patriot Act and years of surveillance.

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Two dangers face us now: the intimidation of federal officers and the normalization of soldiers as street police. Accept either, and we lose the republic. The left cannot be allowed to shut down enforcement, and the right cannot be allowed to abandon constitutional restraint.

The real threat to the republic isn’t just the mobs or the cartels. It’s us — citizens who stop caring about truth and constitutional limits. Anything can be justified when fear takes over. Everything collapses when enough people decide “the ends justify the means.”

We must choose differently. Uphold the rule of law. Guard civil liberties. And remember that the only way to preserve a government of, by, and for the people is to act like the people still want it.