"You flew away as a hero for me and for all the people you saved over the years." The words of his daughter Aurora on social media to remember Massimiliano Galletti, 59, the rescuer who died in Kiev last Monday, after being wounded a month ago by shrapnel from a "RPG" shot, a portable anti-tank grenade launcher.
Galletti, from the Marche region, San Benedetto del Tronto (Ascoli Piceno), was not a foreign fighter but was providing assistance to fighters at the front in a location not far from the Ukrainian capital, together with a Sardinian friend. In the rear, where he operated, the fatal grenade blow and death after a month in a coma in hospital.
This is the first Italian, in this case a paramedic, to die on the Ukrainian front.
"It was 30 days of total darkness" also for his wife Donatella Scarponi: "I knew my husband was dead but not where, how, with whom, where was he?" The woman, shocked, had confirmation at the police station of her husband's death following very serious injuries suffered in the explosion of a grenade. "He was not a fighter - she confirms - because he would not even have known how to use a war rifle".
The mayor of San Benedetto Antonio Spazzafumo, who yesterday met with Galletti's wife and two sisters of the victim, is taking an interest in the return home of the body of the 59-year-old who was a municipal employee on leave for this humanitarian mission: he was a "paramedic rescuer", involved with the dog units, in the search for people injured or killed during the fighting. The Ascoli Police Headquarters has been informed of the incident and is in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and diplomacy has taken action.
"The Italian part of the return process is complete, yesterday the time seemed short; but there are still issues in Ukraine to be resolved", Mayor Spazzafumo told ANSA, who had met Galletti a few months ago in the offices of the town hall, and had spoken to him for a few moments before leaving for Ukraine.
About two years ago, the 59-year-old went to Poland for the first time, with the Italian Civil Protection, in the border areas with Ukraine to help displaced people fleeing the war. When he returned to San Benedetto del Tronto , he organized himself with his Sardinian friend to return to Ukraine on his own . Then he provided assistance as a paramedic behind the front lines. Contact with him had been interrupted for about a month after a grenade exploded in an area of violent fighting between Russians and Ukrainians. On October 28, he died from devastating wounds.
(Online Union)
