A British volunteer on his ninth trip delivering aid to Ukraine has come under fire from Russian forces just 800 metres from where he was been delivering aid on the front line.
Pete Masters, 55, was last in Ukraine in March and after recovering and seeing family he has raised enough funds from donations and working three jobs to return this weekend.
On Friday he travelled on a train from the capital Kyiv with Ukrainian soldiers heading back to the front line to face Putin’s forces.
Having reached his destination, which Express.co.uk won’t reveal for security reasons, Mr Masters said the Ukrainians were holding firm but that there had been “lots of loss” since his last trip.
He said: “Yesterday (Friday) we were 800 metres away from the Russians and we were under artillery fire, we were very, very close.
“The town we were delivering aid to had only one road in and one road out, the Russians knew we were there and trying to take out the road, but we had other routes we could take.
“They were trying to hit the road as we were driving out. We could feel the heat from the burning incendiaries, I wanted to take a picture but it nearly melted my face off, it was that hot.
“We came through a town which me and and that chaplain had stopped in last time I was here for food, now it’s a ghost town, bombed out with buildings with no windows, there’s nothing left of it.
“There’s been a lot of loss since I was last here, a lot of loss. I was on a train with a German soldier coming here to fight and he said Germny was preparing for war with Russia in the next four years.
“If that happens spilling over into NATO, we’re all involved, and we’re all involved now really.”
Mr Masters said his friend Alexander the chaplain was “drained” from the war, but still delivering the vital aid he had been doing since the Russians invaded.
He added: “His house has been bombed, his car has been bombed, he’s a volunteer living on the front line daily, but he’s still up and at it every day and been non-stop on the front line with a wife and small child at home.
“I got here on a train which was taking soldiers, male and female, back to the front line after they had some leave in Kyiv, people were embracing me and hugging me, but it was happy sad because they are all going back to fight.
“No one wanted to sleep on the train, I woke up in the morning, and people were still talking and drinking like it was their last night on Earth.
“It was a pleasure and a privilege to be amongst them all, despite such dire circumstances. They are a band of brothers and sisters.”
When he’s asked why he has been back to Ukraine so many times and been so close to danger, Mr Masters explained he wanted to “help” and that it his calling as part of his Christian faith.
He continued: “I’m not the best Christian, but I am a solid believer and I try to help everyone. I’m 800m from the Russians, I could pick up a weapon but I choose not to, I’m not here to take life, I just want to help.
“I’m not anti-Russian, I am pro-Ukrainian.
“But when I was in Kyiv I went to the memorial full of flags for the fallen, there must be thousands, and I found three people from the UK that I knew.”