Despite its broadcasting team being split among Russia and Ukraine, New Life Radio continues its ministry of sharing the Gospel in the Russian language amid myriad challenges.
New Life Radio is Russia’s first ever Christian FM radio station and has been broadcasting since the 1990s. Content of the broadcasts includes biblically focused music, Scriptural content and expository preaching.
The station quickly expanded to broadcast in several surrounding Russian-speaking nations, including Ukraine, through the use of satellite radio, and now also streams worldwide via the internet.
After broadcasting for years from Russia, New Life Radio moved its central broadcast location to Odessa, Ukraine, several years ago due to increasingly restrictive Russian media laws.
The station was once again forced to change locations in February after the start of the war, this time to Romania while maintaining a facility in Ukraine.
But there are challenges. In addition to safety concerns spurred by the ongoing conflict, the station now must navigate a new Ukrainian media law restricting Russian music in the country, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed last week after much debate.
And station officials say they have heard reports of plans by the Ukrainian government to restrict the country’s internet to allow only Ukrainian-language websites.