Valentin Dunduchenko returned to his church in Dnipro, a city in eastern Ukraine, to find that most of his fellow musicians had fled. Other than a piano player, the church where Mr. Dunduchenko once taught children to sing and play guitar was now filled entirely by refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.

Music and faith are central to Mr. Dunduchenko, who works in Ukraine on behalf of Music in World Cultures, a Pittsburgh-based organization. In recent weeks, the group led by Duquesne University professor Steve Benham has seen its employees in the country transform.

Once music-makers and summer camp counselors, Mr. Dunduchenko and other MIWC associates are now delivering food and sheltering refugees, having made the tough decision to remain in the country while rallying behind their fellow citizens.

Mr. Dunduchenko is a native Ukrainian who speaks Russian and talked with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette through a translator, MIWC affiliate Oxana Mudrenok. Raised as an orphan near Kyiv, Mr. Dunduchenko has loved music since he was young. For the past four years, Mr. Dunduchenko has taught children to play instruments at summer camps organized by MIWC and at the Dnipro church.