Volunteers coordinating aid for Ukraine are now being asked to send body bags along with other supplies as the Russian invasion continues, leaving thousands dead or injured and millions displaced.
Marc Edward Pace Portanier, a Maltese man who has been coordinating aid locally through the Polish charity Fundacja Zmieniamy Życie (Change a Life Foundation), told Times of Malta the devastating toll of war was even more evident when requests for such items came from the front lines of Ukrainian cities.
“It’s heartbreaking, especially when they ask for body bags in all sizes,” he said.
“One minute I’m packing boxes full of sweets and medicine, the next I’m stacking body bags right next to them.
“It’s a stark reality, although, thankfully, it’s not something they’ve asked for repeatedly but we’ve already sent two shipments,” he added.
Pace Portanier said the body bags were mainly going to Kharkiv and other eastern cities while much of the medicine was being sent to the west of Ukraine.
Gear for rescuers looking for survivors
“We’re also sending large amounts of gear so that rescue workers can go through the rubble and look for people and eye medication to treat people after a bombing,” he said.
According to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, there have been 5,381 civilian casualties since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, with 2,435 people were killed and 2,946 injured.
The civilian deaths are made up of 746 men, 469 women, 48 girls, and 66 boys as well as 70 children and 1,036 adults whose sex is yet unknown.
Over 5million people have fled
According to refugee data being kept by the United Nations, some 5,186,744 people have fled Ukraine as refugees since the start of the invasion.
Pace Portanier has made two trips to Poland to help the charity with aid work, mostly spending time transporting Ukrainians who have fled the fighting to their final destinations.
Some hope still shines through in the darkness.
A pregnant woman whom Pace Portanier helped transport from in Kharkiv into Poland was able to get her first OGYN appointment while staying at a rest house in Lublin, with doctors telling her that all is well.
“Considering that we are faced with all this darkness, it’s something that really fills our hearts,” he said.