A young man who quit his job to travel to Ukraine to help the war effort is planning to return despite Russia sentencing two British prisoners of war to death.
Adam Draper recently returned from a month giving medical support in Ukraine, where he helped treat horrific injuries and at one point travelled in a van which was hit by Russian gunfire. But the 23-year-old was also inspired by the Ukrainians' bravery — and he is fundraising for supplies ahead of a flight next month to go back to the warzone for up to a year.
"I still feel like I haven't done enough," said Adam, from Porth, Rhondda. "My partner is absolutely livid, but she's been amazing and stood by me 100% even though she's not happy about it. I know if I don't go back I will have a massive regret for the rest of my life."
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Adam resigned from his role selling gas and electricity about two weeks before he first travelled to Ukraine in early April. "I had always wanted to be in the military but I had a heart operation three years ago which stopped me. I have an extra electrical current going through my heart and it makes my heartrate fluctuate constantly, but it doesn't cause me any issues at the moment.
"I always felt like every man had a duty. There was no doubt in my mind about going to Ukraine. I'm a fearless guy and I've got the skills to help people."
He applied for the Ukrainian Foreign Legion but was told that only people with military experience would be accepted. Although Adam could not fight, he was not discouraged. He decided he would provide medical support by drawing on skills from a course on emergency care in hostile environments, which he took aged 18 at a learning centre in Shrewsbury.
Adam flew from London to Krakow before taking a train to the Polish town of Lancut, where he joined a group of volunteers, two from the USA and two from Canada. One was a marine, another a SWAT medic. The group travelled by train to various locations in Ukraine including Kiev and Lviv, dropping off more than 1,500 ice packs to Ukrainian soldiers.
Adam travelled to areas which had been flattened by bombing, including the devastated city of Mariupol. He said he helped treat four or five casualties, including a man who had lost an arm and part of a leg in a missile strike on a building next to an Lviv train station. "Another man there had died, and there was a lady who didn't have a scratch on her," said Adam. "I remember her screaming and crying. One of the Americans could translate Ukrainian, and it turned out she thought her daughter had died in the strike. But later that day we were there when she found out her daughter wasn't in the building and they were reunited. It was a powerful thing to see, just pure love.
"When the woman had thought her daughter was dead, she still wanted to help us with the gentleman who had lost his limb. I grew up in care so I never really had family love, but I couldn't imagine being so strong if I lost my partner. You rarely see that in people, and it really motivated me.
"As far as I know, the guy who lost his arm survived. You watch things on TV and think that's how it happens, but in reality it is all so different. He was awake, he wasn't screaming or panicking. It is difficult to see those injuries, but you switch on and do what you can to help. We applied a tourniquet and I had to leave to give some medical training in another area."
Adam added he helped give medical training to around 100 soldiers, 20 doctors and nurses, and 15 civilians. "We were teaching them how to deal with major bleeding. The doctors and nurses didn't actually know how to apply tourniquets in that situation, only how to clean and stitch wounds. Everyone was so thankful for our advice."
There was one moment of alarm during the training, when Adam tied a tourniquet around the arm of a volunteer from Cardiff who then collapsed in the demonstration. Adam said: "It had stopped the blood flow and he went into a seizure while everyone was watching. We put him in the recovery position, and I know it sounds terrible to say but it was a good training method to show how you treat someone in shock. He was taken to hospital and he was OK."
At times Adam's building would shake due to bombs falling nearby, but his accommodation was never hit. After around a month in Ukraine he ran out of cash and had to return. "I went over there with about £100, and that got me through about three weeks because everything is really cheap, then I was lent £200 by my partner's family to get me back."
Travelling towards the Polish border at night in a white van bearing a Red Cross, Adam and his group came under Russian gunfire. He said around five to 10 rounds were fired, causing the van's windows to smash.
"The guy who was driving put his foot to the pedal," said Adam. "We were all OK. It's mad to be in that situation. I was scared but I was constantly aware of what was going on around me. To be honest I wasn't thinking about me. I was thinking, 'Are the guys alright?' I'm more there for others than myself."
The van reached Lancut and Adam travelled home, but he has booked a flight back for July 11 and plans to spent six months to a year in Ukraine. Awestruck by the positivity of its people, he said: "They have pulled together to help each other. The taxi drivers would be smiling at you, everyone was friendly and grateful that we were over there. They'd want to take our picture constantly. Some do speak a bit of English, and they want to give you a cwtch."
The UK Government has advised against travel to Ukraine. Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, who were captured while fighting for Ukraine, were sentenced to death last week by a Russian proxy court in eastern Ukraine. Has this made Adam worry for his own safety? "Volunteers like myself are behind the front line. We're not getting constantly shelled. I know being in Ukraine is a risk but I can't let that stop me helping hundreds of people. If everyone thought like that there would be no one out there and Ukraine would have fallen."
Adam has set a fundraising target of £10,000 for supplies such as syringes, stretchers and gas masks to bring to Ukraine. His friends at Yusif Barber Shop in Porth are helping with a charity box in the shop. You can see Adam's Gofundme page here.
