Victoria man in Ukraine fears city he travelled to will soon be bombed
From a small apartment in an undisclosed neighbourhood of Lviv, Ukraine, Mark Preston-Horin recounts the moment he entered into the war-torn nation.
"I remember when I crossed the border into Ukraine," said Preston-Horin, of Victoria, B.C.
"There was literally four or five thousand people in a queue to get out. I was the only one walking in," he said.
The Vancouver Island man with deep family ties to Ukraine left Canada on March 5.
Medical expertise made Preston-Horin think he would be in high demand in Ukraine, but on the ground and amid the chaos of war his assumptions have been proven wrong.
"It's tough to be here and knowing my hands are tied. It's really, really tough," he told CTV News Vancouver Island on Friday.
Since he arrived in Lviv, he has been trying to help in anyway he can, but he says because he is not a Ukrainian national his attempts are being thwarted.
"If you want to join the army you need to sign into the legion. If you sign into the legion you sign a contract with no closed date. You can't leave until they tell you," said Preston-Horin.
Unwilling to be held in Ukraine by a military contract, he turned to hospitals to aid the Ukrainian people.
Hospitals have also told him that because he isn’t a national he isn’t needed. Now, Preston-Horin has turned to government-backed volunteer forces outside the military sphere.
He says he is giving one group any support he can, but would not go into detail about the groups supported by the Ukrainian military.
Mark Preston-Horin, of Victoria, is pictured in Ukraine over Zoom. March 11, 2022 (CTV News)
Lviv is a small city in western Ukrainian, not far from the border to Poland.
Mark chose the location because it was a bastion for refugees needing help, and that it was expected to be spared from the horrors of war.
His expectations are now proving to be wrong.
"We are expecting to have some bombs and missiles in the next few days," he said on a Zoom call Friday.
As Russian forces amp up attacks and begin to target military airfields in western Ukraine, Mark says he is faced with a choice he never wanted to make.
"It's going to get to the point where it's pick up a gun or head to the border," said Preston-Horin.
"I'm not looking forward to that decision."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit the federal carbon price on natural gas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
'We hoped for this day, but we were scared that it would not never ever come because it took so long.' That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.