“Unrelenting.” That is how Calgarian Paul Hughes describes the recent Russian attacks on Ukraine.
“For the last three hours the city has been bombarded by Shaheds and missiles and cruise missiles,” said Hughes, speaking to Global News from the darkened Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Thursday evening.
“In the last two to three months it has really intensified,” added Hughes, with the sound of bombs exploding in the distance.
“June was almost 6,000 Shahed (drone) attacks, missiles — it’s getting very bad here. You can smell it in the air. You can see the smoke.”
Hughes has been in Ukraine since 2022 as a volunteer, doing humanitarian work with the Canadian charity H.U.G.S. (Helping Ukraine – Grassroots Support).
A few weeks after his arrival he was joined by his son MacKenzie, who is now 22 years old and has been working alongside Ukrainian troops, organizing relief efforts and humanitarian aid for people who have been displaced along the war’s front lines.
On Canada Day, during one of those massive Russian bombardments, MacKenzie was injured.
Luckily he’s still alive, but the extent of his injuries isn’t yet clear.
When he got word of the attack, Paul Hughes rushed to be with his son.
“I’ve spent the last few days — drove down form Kharkiv immediately when I was contacted by his unit, so I’ve been with him constantly since July 1st,” said Hughes.
MacKenzie has burns to about 30 per cent of his body. He was pinned under a vehicle but was saved by two other members of his team.
“He’s stable but he’s not OK,” said the elder Hughes. “You don’t get hit by Shaheds and be OK.”
Hughes said he has been in touch with the Canadian embassy, and there are people who have offered to try to get his son back to Canada. But MacKenzie said no — he didn’t want to leave Ukraine.
“He’s receiving very good care here in Kyiv,” said Hughes. “At a burn unit that specializes in burns. I mean, some of the best doctors in the world are in Ukraine now because of all the trauma over the past three-and-a-half years. So they deal with a lot of burns. He’s receiving exceptional care at the moment.”
After seeing so many innocent people killed in the Russian bombardments, Hughes is inspired by the bravery of the Ukrainian people.
“There are people, civilians, predominantly civilians, dying on a regular basis from the terrorist attacks. On the front line, it’s soldiers, but in the cities where it’s purely civilian. This is pure terrorism,” said Hughes.
“It’s one thing to have your generic type warfare and a front line and soldier versus soldier and artillery versus artillery, but this is unrelenting attacks on civilian population and that’s pure terrorism.”
Hughes concluded our interview by asking his friends back in Canada to keep his son in their thoughts.
“He’s a very strong young man and he’s got a really good chance to get back to form,” said Hughes. “That’s my hope as a father. I love my son.”