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When Paul Hughes arrived in Kherson, Ukraine after traversing an often devastated landscape, he received a greeting his son has grown accustomed to – Russian shelling.
“We got under cover and turned the vehicle off and it was ‘zoom, boom’ a couple of hundred metres away,” said Calgarian Hughes.
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“It was like they were targeting us.”
Life in the frontline southern Ukrainian city is under the nearly constant eye of Russian military drones seeking out targets – information relayed to artillery batteries on the east bank of the broad Dnieper River.
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They park their vehicles under canopies or some form of cover to avoid detection from drones, said the men, who regularly spot the deadly gnats flying overhead.
“Everyone knows there’s a tonne of drones – we can’t know if they’re Ukrainian or Russian,” said Hughes.
Hughes was speaking from 21-year-old son Mac’s apartment about 1 km from the river, which has been pierced as a natural defensive barrier by Ukrainian forces who are fighting on the east bank in a bid to push the Russians out of artillery range of Kherson.
But for now, that eventuality remains a possibly distant one, with Mac Hughes rifling off a list of Russian artillery and aerial threats he’s lived under for months.
“We get incoming probably every five to ten minutes,” said the younger Hughes.
Said his father, acknowledging their own vulnerability: “Anything can happen.”
Paul is in Kherson for a rare, brief visit with his son and their Helping Ukraine – Grassroots Support (HUGS) team that cleans up the debris left by Russian artillery and drone strikes.
Normally, he’s based in Kharkiv, an eight-hour drive to the northeast that itself isn’t far from the fighting and a regular recipient of Russian bombardments hurled over a border only 40 km distant.
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“The difference is Kherson receives artillery fire while Kharkiv gets missiles and drones,” said Hughes, 59.
He’s made the trip to Kherson, which was liberated from Russian occupation by Ukrainian forces in November, 2022, to oversee a host of aid programs including one that helps children displaced by the fighting.
It offers children sports, games, art, computer use and other activities.
“Nobody’s paying attention to the children, it’s such a war focus and I understand why that is,” said Hughes.
It’s all being done in what he describes as a “ghost town” whose normal population of 280,000 has been reduced to a fraction of that.
“(Kherson) has the population of Saskatoon but it might as well be Balzac,” said Hughes, referring to the hamlet on Calgary’s northern edge.
“There’s old people, lots of soldiers and very few (aid) volunteers,” he said.
He plans to make the return trek to Kharkiv on Saturday, through scenes of destruction, enroute to a larger city that earlier this week came under concerted Russian missile and drone attacks.
“Some of villages along the way are really blown up, we came through a bunch of communities that don’t exist any more,” he said.
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Along the border near HUGS’ base city of Kharkiv, Russian dissident fighters have recently entered southern Russia to battle Kremlin troops, something that’s “excited” locals who have grown accustomed to hearing how much of the war has turned against Ukraine, he said.
“It’s the talk of the town,” said Hughes, who’s been in Ukraine since March, 2022.
“It’s giving Russians a taste of their own medicine – Ukrainians have been under fire for more than two years.”
The father and son team have come into contact with other Canadian aid providers, including Calgary ex-pat Bruce Callow, who’s organizing a second Calgary fundraiser for Edmonton-based group Amigo Relief Missions which has ties to former Alberta premier Ed Stelmach in providing medical and other supplies for Ukraine.
The event will be held March 29 at 7 p.m. at St. David’s United Church, 3303 Capitol Hill Cres. and will feature Ukrainian-Canadian musical artists and guest speakers.
A suggested entry donation of $30 can be made at the door.
X (Twitter) @BillKaufmannjrn
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