Calgarians father, son mourn lost friends amid Ukraine war stalemate
When he risked his life to recover the body of Calgarian Kyle Porter, who had been killed by Russian artillery fire last spring, the Sri Lankan officer known as The Dentist predicted his own death.
Under a barrage of artillery shells in eastern Ukraine a few weeks ago, his prediction came true, and the man who'd come to help in the fight against Russia became one of a growing list of Mac and Paul Hughes's friends lost to a grinding war.
“We've had seven friends die here in the past 10 days — it's vicious,” Paul Hughes said from his home in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.
Those lost run the gamut of nationalities — Irish, German, Polish and Ukrainian — who've been fighting in a conflict that's bogged down into a deadly stalemate in recent months.
Hundreds of kilometres to the southwest in Kherson, Hughes's 21-year-old son, Mac, describes the recent death of one of his humanitarian aid colleagues, a Ukrainian struck by a shell fired by Russian troops entrenched on the other side of the Dniepr River.
“He was walking to work, a threecity-block walk,” said the younger Hughes.
“I'd see him every day. Everybody at this stage of the war has lost somebody … you have to put some amazing people into the ground.”
The approaching holidays won't be very festive in Kherson, with 2024 likely to be ushered in with lethal fireworks, he said.
“I don't think there's been a single day since the liberation of Kherson (in November 2022) that there hasn't been at least 10 or 15 artillery strikes,” said Hughes.
He uploaded a video shot from his balcony this week showing Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire streaking into the nighttime sky to blast Russian attack drones.
“Everyday life in Kherson, the city that isn't allowed to sleep,” is the video's caption.
Hughes and his colleagues have been cleaning up buildings and streets struck by Russian bombardment.
In recent days, he's made forays outside Kherson to the city of Beryslav, 60 kilometres to the northeast, where he's brought food to its beleaguered residents.
It was a hair-raising trip past unexploded missiles embedded in the road and under the constant watch of the Russians, said the Calgarian who's been in Ukraine since August 2022. When he arrived, locals warned him not to park his vehicle in the open out of fear they'd be spotted by the Russians and attract artillery fire or suicide drones.
“I didn't want to be there for more than 15 minutes,” said Hughes.
The holidays in the front-line city of Kherson won't include any conspicuous celebrating, for fear of attracting the attention of the Russians only a few kilometres away, said Hughes.
“I don't really celebrate the holidays much — I'll go see my dad,” said Hughes.
Back in Kharkiv, Paul Hughes and his Canadian-based charity, Helping Ukraine — Grassroots Support, is organizing a Christmas Day party for Ukrainian children displaced by the fighting that will include dancing, toys, games and Santa.
“We're trying to get presents for 500 kids here,” said Hughes, whose group has mounted nearly 300 aid missions since the war's start.
The younger Hughes said that party will likely be as festive as his holidays get amid a war where any hope of a quick Ukrainian victory has vanished.
“It'll be good to see the kids having a good time,” he said.