Full Photo Album: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAWcEQ
I met the founder of H.U.G.S Ukraine, Paul Hughes of Calgary, Canada, through an introduction from U.K.-based humanitarian Hymie Dunn and Arizona-based U.S. Marine Corps. Mark Cary at the LF Music concert in Kharkiv. Hymie first met Paul in the early days of the full invasion.
Even before Hymie had told me about Paul, I had already heard of the work of H.U.G.S. (Helping Ukraine Grassroots Support) online. I was delighted to meet Paul and hear his story, which Hymie and Mark had teased during our long journey to Kharkiv in Hymie’s van.
Like Hymie and Mark, Paul threw caution (and some might say good sense) to the wind and headed into Ukraine in early 2022 when almost everyone else, including many Ukrainians, was trying to get out. Paul, who once ran for mayor in Calgary and has a thriving urban community farm called Grow Calgary back home, has stayed in Ukraine ever since.
But now his son Mackenzie (Mac) and various volunteers from around the globe have joined him. At Paul’s headquarters in Kharkiv, we met volunteers from Australia, Finland, Canada, and Ukraine.
Paul’s harrowing story of rescuing a six-year-old girl caught in heavy fighting is worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. Paul was captured and detained by the Russian military for several hours, illustrating how hazardous it was for a Westerner to come to Ukraine in 2022.
He was finally released after reaching common ground with the commander in charge over a shared love of hockey (Paul was also a hockey coach in Canada) and was able to bring the young girl to safety. Stories with happy endings like Paul’s are vitally important to hang onto if we are to have hope during the dark days of bombs, death, and destruction that can feel unending.
However, if Paul were captured in 2023, I’m not sure the ending would be so happy. Russia is getting increasingly desperate to hold Westerners hostage, as illustrated by a distant colleague and Facebook “friend’s” plight.
While in Ukraine, I saw that U.S. musician Michael Travis Leake was arrested and held prisoner in Moscow over likely trumped-up drug charges. Leake is one in an ever-expanding list of prisoners like U.S. Marine Corps veteran Paul Whelan, Wall Street Reporter Evan Gershkovich, and Radio Free Europe journalist and dual U.S. and Russian citizen Alsu Kurmasheva.
Our evening hanging with H.U.G.S. Ukraine was a fun evening of meeting everyone, hearing their stories, and eventually receiving some very cool T-shirts that I still love wearing around New York City to confuse people who may think I’m Canadian or Ukrainian.
The evening was capped off when Anastasia’s soldier father, Oleg, met us on location. Oleg had been fighting in Bakhmut for several months, and this was the first time Anastasia had seen him in months—more on that in the next post.
Find out more about H.U.G.S. Ukraine by visiting their social media pages or website or google “Paul Hughes” for some great stories about Paul to better understand what makes this fantastic humanitarian and entrepreneur tick.