{"id":238706,"date":"2025-07-05T00:02:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T00:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/238706\/"},"modified":"2025-07-05T00:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T00:02:15","slug":"calgary-man-injured-in-russian-drone-and-missile-attack-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/238706\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary man injured in Russian drone and missile attack in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cUnrelenting.\u201d\u00a0 That is how Calgarian Paul Hughes<\/a> describes the recent Russian attacks on Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the last three hours the city has been bombarded by Shaheds and missiles and cruise missiles,\u201d said Hughes, speaking to Global News from the darkened Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last two to three months it has really intensified,\u201d added Hughes, with the sound of bombs exploding in the distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cJune was almost 6,000 Shahed (drone) attacks, missiles \u2014 it\u2019s getting very bad here. You can smell it in the air.\u00a0 You can see the smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSmoke rises after a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, July 4, 2025.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAssociated Press\/Yehor Konovalov\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Hughes has been in Ukraine since 2022<\/a>\u00a0as a volunteer, doing humanitarian work with the Canadian char<\/a>ity H.U.G.S. (Helping Ukraine \u2013 Grassroots Support<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

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\u2019s front lines.<\/p>\n

On Canada Day, during one of those massive Russian bombardments, MacKenzie was injured.<\/p>\n

Luckily he\u2019s still alive, but the extent of his injuries isn\u2019t yet clear.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t22-year-old MacKenzie Hughes and his father Paul have been in Ukraine since 2022, working to deliver humanitarian aid to people displaced by the fighting along the front lines of the war.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy: Paul Hughes\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

When he got word of the attack, Paul Hughes rushed to be with his son.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spent the last few days \u2014 drove down form Kharkiv immediately when I was contacted by his unit, so I\u2019ve been with him constantly since July 1st,\u201d said Hughes.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRussia launches largest drone strike of war on Ukraine\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

MacKenzie has burns to about 30 per cent of his body.\u00a0 He was pinned under a vehicle but was saved by two other members of his team.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s stable but he\u2019s not OK,\u201d said the elder Hughes.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t get hit by Shaheds and be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Calgarian<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCalgarian Paul Hughes, whose son MacKenzie is seen helping deliver humanitarian aid along the front lines of the war in Ukraine, said he is inspired by the bravery of the Ukrainian people.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy: Paul Hughes\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 he didn\u2019t want to leave Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s receiving very good care here in Kyiv,\u201d said Hughes. \u201cAt 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\u2019s receiving exceptional care at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t22-year-old MacKenzie Hughes, from Calgary, is seen in a hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine after he was injured in a Russian attack on July 1, 2025.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy: Paul Hughes\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

After seeing so many innocent people killed in the Russian bombardments, Hughes is inspired by the bravery of the Ukrainian people.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are people, civilians, predominantly civilians, dying on a regular basis from the terrorist attacks.\u00a0 On the front line, it\u2019s soldiers, but in the cities where it\u2019s purely civilian. This is pure terrorism,\u201d said Hughes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019s pure terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hughes concluded our interview by asking his friends back in Canada to keep his son in their thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very strong young man and he\u2019s got a really good chance to get back to form,\u201d said Hughes.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s my hope as a father. I love my son.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:29
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTrump says he\u2019s disappointed with Putin after \u2018no progress\u2019 phone call\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cUnrelenting.\u201d\u00a0 That is how Calgarian Paul Hughes describes the recent Russian attacks on Ukraine. \u201cFor the last three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[92883,2000,299,92884,92885,657,335,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-238706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-canada-ukraine","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-mackenzie-hughes","12":"tag-paul-hughes","13":"tag-ukraine","14":"tag-war-in-ukraine","15":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114797697456205246","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}