A British man aiding with evacuations in Ukraine is campaigning for a new vehicle to continue his work after his 4x4 was hit by a Russian tank round.
Chris Parry said he was inspired to help them because of the “clear good against evil” situation following Putin's invasion of Ukraine back in February.
The 27-year-old from Cheltenham has been working to evacuate families and vulnerable people stranded in villages that have been devastated by the war.
Mr Parry first went out to Ukraine in March and says he has no plan of returning home until the war stops, however his work has now been jeopardised following a run-in with Russian forces.
He had bought a 4x4 vehicle with money from a fundraiser as an upgrade to his volatile white van.
The new car allowed him to reach more remote places and evacuate more citizens, but has been hit by a Russian tank round.
He was heading to evacuation in the Donetsk region, where soldiers described the area as the "worst place they had ever been."
He told Sky News: "They call it the grey zone because no one really has control, you could just bump into a Russian at any moment.
"Missiles were landing on the building next door, the roof was shaking. I asked the soldiers, how feasible is it to get to the location of the next evacuee, and they said it was 50/50 you were going to get shot at by a tank.
"They kept saying 'you're crazy, you're crazy' and they gave me an emblem from World War II which they took off a Russian which they had killed. It was a Nazi swastika from 1939."
As he was driving down the road, suddenly there was a huge explosion around two metres from his front left wheel, which was a tank round landing on the front left tyre.
While he was unharmed the car is severely damaged and he is desperate to be operational again to help the lives of vulnerable Ukrainians.
He says the people he is saving now are either being shot dead or being forced to become Russian for the rest of their lives.
"That is why I was willing to risk it because I know that these people will be executed out on the street or shipped off," he added.
Mr Parry is continuing to fundraise £17,500 to try to get a new off-road vehicle to reach the most vulnerable via JustGiving.
He initially went to join the Foreign Legion, as they said you didn’t need a military background, but once he got there they would not allow him to fight on the frontlines.
The former coach at Cheltenham Running Club said one of the most tragic moments was seeing a bereaved woman grieving the loss of her daughter.
Alongside the fundraiser, he has been posting images of the people he has recused.
One photo shows a smiling mother and her four children who had been surviving in a cellar in occupied Russian territory since March.
Their father was taken by the Russians and Mr Parry told the i Newspaper that the children were like vulnerable chicks.
