This calgarian volunteered to fight in Ukraine. He was almost killed in a drone attack
Mac Hughes remembers the smell of diesel and the burning pain flowing through his legs when he was pinned under a fire vehicle after a drone strike in the Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine on Canada Day.
The Calgarian, who signed a contract with the Ukrainian army a year and a half ago, was aware because he was withdrawn from the vehicle with what turned out to be third degree burns.
Now, after spending almost two months lying in a hospital bed, the 23 -year -old tries to pass the exhaustion while he takes his first steps as part of a rehabilitation program in the capital, kyiv.
“It’s tiring. It’s a big long process,” he said. “It’s good to be back on foot after 53 days.”
Hughes, who originally came to Ukraine in 2022 to join his father to carry out humanitarian work with the non -governmental organization embraces (Helping the support of the base of Ukraine), decided to join the army after losing a friend who was also a soldier for Ukraine.
Now he recovered after being injured by one of the greatest threats to the battlefield and in Ukrainian cities: a Russian drone.
Hughes spoke to CBC News of a wheelchair after spending several minutes on crutches, where he had to prepare for each tenuous stage.
The other young men came and left the rehabilitation establishment, many of whom had lost members and learned to adapt to prostheses.
“For some of these guys, their lives has changed forever,” he said. “I was really, really lucky.”
A one -night phone call
When Paul Hughes spoke to his son on June 30, Mac told him that he was disappointed that he could not attend the Canadian Day, Paul organized in the city in northeast Kharkiv, where the father-son duo had based their operations before Mac joined the army.
When an unknown number called Paul’s phone at 4:20 a.m. on July 2, he said he had the impression that he was struck in the intestine immediately.
“I will never forget that. I knew … when I looked at the phone,” said Paul.
He ran to pick up Mac’s girlfriend, Lisa Rudchenko, and they accelerated to Zaporizhzhia not really knowing in what condition was his son until they entered the hospital room and saw him covered with bandages.
“It was too much to see my child in this way,” said Paul. “He was in disorder. They didn’t really clean it properly, and it was just horrible.”
When Hughes saw his father enter his hospital room, he recalled that it was the very first time that he had seen him cry.
Father and son duo
For most of this time, Paul lived in a given motorhome, which is easily recognizable in the hospital parking lots due to the Canadian flag stuck in the hood.
Paul, a veteran of the Canadian army, initially went to Ukraine in 2022 to take up arms against Russia, but decided to pivot after seeing the humanitarian need.
With his son, he carried out humanitarian missions, in particular risky civil evacuations, which at one point meant being questioned by Russian soldiers under the threat of a weapon when he entered an occupied territory.
When Mac told him that he wanted to do more to help Ukraine and join his soldiers, Paul admits that he was in conflict. Their humanitarian work was dangerous, but serving during an active war along a sprawling front line is at another level.
At least 11 Canadians have been killed in the region since Russia’s large -scale invasion in 2022, according to world affairs.
Suffering flashback
Mac Hughes would not disclose the specific nature of his work with the military, but said that she was linked to a variety of tasks, including driving.
He said that the drone that caused the explosion was a Shahed, the type of self -destructive drone that Russia has launched in waves in Ukrainian cities.
“”It was probably one of the most frightening sounds I have ever heard in my life, “said Hughes.
A Calgary man who was used with the Ukrainian army was seriously injured by a swarm of Russian drones on the front line on Canada Day. He is now recovering from third degree burns in a Kyiv hospital.
When the drones targeted Kyiv in record number throughout July, the worrying buzz held Hughes awake in his hospital bed, trying flashbacks.
Hughes remains in the hospital, where he receives mental health support with physiotherapy.
During the weekend, fundraising took place in a kyiv bar to help collect funds to cover spending by the Hughes family. Mac believes that it could be a few months before he returned to walking on his marked and marked legs, which remain covered with bandages.
Sentimental tattoo
On his right arm, he points to a less serious burn and a precious tattoo which represents a maple leaf merged with the Ukrainian trident, on the blue and yellow colors of the country’s flag.
He obtained it a month after his arrival in Ukraine. He had planned to stay only one more month; It’s been three and a half years now.
“So I just fell in love with the country,” he said. “The places we were going to, the villages we saw, the people we help.”
This is why he felt relieved when one day following the drone strike, he saw that the tattoo remained completely intact.
“They removed the bandage, and the first thing I said is:” Ukraine always survives. “”
