How Close Is Too Close? Maltese Volunteer Makes It To Front Line Of Ukrainian War
As battle rages in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, a young Maltese man is doing his bit on the ground to help combat the Russian invasion.
Marc Edward Pace Portanier has volunteered around Ukraine since the war broke out and his activism has now taken him to Bakhmut, an eastern Donbas city which has found itself under sustained attack by Russian forces in recent months.
“How close is too close? All in,” Marc said on social media as he posted a photo of himself at a Bakhmut park where a Soviet-era plane has been converted into a monument.
Marc told Lovin Malta that he has delivered some 1.5 tonnes of medical supplies, food and clothing, as well as generators, to Ukrainian citizens in the front line city.
While he hasn’t witnessed any fighting on the ground yet, he has seen the impact of war, including shells flying, trenches, tanks, sinkholes and smouldering buildings.
Asked if he feels scared, he said that while his anxiety levels were high initially, he has since calmed down.
“It’s ironic but once you hear the shells flying after the 4th or 5th your mind calms down,” he said.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, said today that Russia would like to take Bakhmut because it possessed “underground cities” that can hold troops and tanks as well as stockpiles of weapons that have been stored there since World War One.
However, the US said it believes Prigozhin is interested in taking control of salt and gypsum mines in the area for commercial reasons.
Tag someone who needs to know this
READ NEXT: ‘Why The Hell Are You Even Here?’: Russian Residents In Malta Speak Out On Social Discrimination
