A Calgary military veteran said he’ll be on a train bound for Kyiv, Ukraine on Monday night and ready to help in Ukraine’s capital city in what ever way he can.
Farmer and anti-poverty activist Paul Hughes arrived in Ukraine on Friday and has been staying in western Ukraine city of Lviv.
He said it’s been chaos there.
“I was mentally prepared and emotionally prepared, but I wasn’t emotionally prepared for the women and children. Just seeing children and people in distress leaving their homes, and all they have is a bag,” Hughes said.
Hughes has been volunteering near the train station handing out food at a local kitchen.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster because of the women and children, Just to see all the people who are displaced, it’s really tough to see that. I’m not a fan of bullies or people going through any type of misery and pain and you just want to alleviate that but it’s just unrelenting,” Hughes said.
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The Canadian veteran said he’s been helping deliver food to refugees coming into Lviv. He said the sheer number of people at the train station in the city has been overwhelming.
“Everybody’s just doing what they can. It’s one step closer to helping getting these people where they are going, whether you’re carrying a bag up the stairs for an old couple or you’re giving a little kid a hug. I had a bunch of toys and I was giving toys away,” Hughes said.
“I walked through that train station and I couldn’t move. I was almost suffocating because people were moving shoulder to shoulder and squeezed together — thousands of people in misery, leaving their homes where they had a perfectly normal enjoyable life.”
He says his goal is to get to Kyiv and be issued a weapon to help in the fight against invading Russian forces. On Monday he said Ukrainian authorities would be providing him with a weapon and that he was about to board a train for Kyiv.
“I’m not going near Russians without a weapon in my hand. A hockey stick isn’t going to cut it,” Hughes said.
He said the experience has made him reflect on the differences between life in Calgary and in Lviv.
“These people are dealing with this constantly and they get it done with nothing, and we have all the resources. The worst place in Calgary would be the best place here,” Hughes said.
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