Many people walking the streets of Lisbon will be greeted by an unusual sight: an ambulance riddled with bullets, completely out of action. The story of the vehicle, now on display in the heart of the Portuguese capital, goes back to 2022 during a rescue operation in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
“A medical team was called out to rescue a woman injured in a bombing. After they had entered the building to rescue her, this ambulance came under fire,” Roman Grymalyuk, president of the Portuguese-Ukrainian association ORANTA, tells Euronews.
For this Portuguese-Ukrainian citizen, although the vehicle stands as evidence of Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine, the story has a bright side.
“The only thing that was destroyed was the metal,” Roman says, stressing that at least in this case no human lives were lost.
Once a medical emergency vehicle, it is now an exhibit which, according to the association, lays bare the horrors of the conflict and of Russian attacks on civilians. For Roman, who describes Russia as a “terrorist state,” the ambulance is a tangible, irrefutable piece of evidence of war crimes.
The vehicle has toured several European countries and has only recently arrived in Portugal. Before reaching Lisbon, it had already been shown in several Portuguese cities.
“This ambulance already has a long story behind it. This is not the first place where it has been exhibited. It has been travelling around Europe since 2023, starting out from the European Parliament,” he tells Euronews, stressing that the vehicle, together with the accompanying paintings and photographs, is intended to bring Ukrainian reality to places far removed from a real warzone.
“Here you can come up close, touch it, and grasp the pain, the scale and the problem we are facing today. This is not a film. It is a reality that is unfolding in Europe,” the ORANTA president stressed.
‘One of the most hostile countries in Europe’
In the capital, the ambulance has been parked just a few metres from the Embassy of the Russian Federation. For Roman Grymalyuk, this is yet another act of resistance, especially after the embassy’s attaché recently said that Portugal was one of the most hostile countries in Europe.
“If Portugal is the enemy of a terrorist country, we can say it is on the right side of history, on the right side of the world and of the defence of humanity,” Roman said.
The ambulance and the exhibition that goes with it are part of the international “Ukraine is Calling” campaign run by LUkraine, which has already toured 11 European countries.
Winner of the European Citizen’s Prize in 2023, the campaign aims to raise funds for more than 100 medical vehicles for Ukraine.
ORANTA, the Association for the Support of the Ukrainian Community in Portugal, has been active in the Algarve since 2022, is one of the partner organisations, and has already sent 31 medical and rescue vehicles to the country.
The association is in regular contact with municipalities and fire brigades in order to secure decommissioned vehicles in Portugal that can be refurbished and sent to Ukraine.
“Some we manage to buy, others we manage to obtain,” Roman explains. “Among the fire services, there are many ambulances that can no longer be used to provide services here in Portugal, but for us, they are extremely important.”