Update (March 4): Under threat of an invasion from Russia, Ukrainian church leaders say their call for an all-night prayer vigil received a global response overnight. "The situation here is stabilizing slowly," said Vitaly Sorokun, pastor of New Hope Church in Kharkov, near the Russian border, via email, in thanking Christians for their public prayer support.

Inside Russia, more church leaders, including Yuri Sipko, a prominent evangelical, are speaking out against any threat by Russia to use its military. "Russian churches, as institutions standing guard over spiritual life, must declare their disagreement with lies," Sipko said in a public statement via Russian Ministries. "Russian churches must stop armed conflict. Russia must not become an aggressor. Too much blood has been spilled by our people, in order to spill the blood of our brother nation of Ukraine." Sipko served as vice president of the World Baptist Alliance from 2002 to 2010.

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