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April Huggett

@AprilHuggett21,907 subscribers

🇨🇦 Молодший сержант- in the Armed Forces of Ukraine https://t.co/YBH5vYuVB7

Shorts

This is just one of the reasons I joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On one of my many animal evacuations in Sivers’k #Ukraine I was targeted by russians, and they missed by only 50 meters. My saving grace was I parked between some trees and a building, with a small 1m embankment, otherwise who knows if I would be here to write this. #russiaisaterroriststate targeting civilians and animals all to terrorize the general population into submission. Donating directly to units in the Armed Forces is the best thing you can do to protect Ukrainians. That’s why we collect our own donations. We can purchase the battlefield equipment we need, the moment we need it. No delays, no breaches of OPSEC when new people come to deliver aid. Just people helping us defend the people. #Support93 #SupportUkraine

This is just one of the reasons I joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On one of my many animal evacuations in Sivers’k #Ukraine I was targeted by russians, and they missed by only 50 meters. My saving grace was I parked between some trees and a building, with a small 1m embankment, otherwise who knows if I would be here to write this. #russiaisaterroriststate targeting civilians and animals all to terrorize the general population into submission. Donating directly to units in the Armed Forces is the best thing you can do to protect Ukrainians. That’s why we collect our own donations. We can purchase the battlefield equipment we need, the moment we need it. No delays, no breaches of OPSEC when new people come to deliver aid. Just people helping us defend the people. #Support93 #SupportUkraine

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Before I was a soldier, I traveled frontline areas, mostly in Donetsk Oblast, to bring food and water to civilians living under russian terror - for 2 years. Eventually I was evacuating people and animals more than I was bringing in aid. Julie (Pictured) was my friend Sergei’s dog. Sergei helped me find the animals and people in Sivers’k who needed help the most, in the areas of the city that was usually off limits. Julie was always with him as he was driving around helping the people of Sivers’k, his home town, now under constant shelling and FPV threat by the russians. On April 14th,2024 Sergei and three others were murdered by russians. Their only crime, being Ukrainian on Ukrainian soil. I found out through a telegram channel notification, “4 civilians killed in Sivers’k”. There were no names but I instantly knew he was gone. russians will call this land their own and say they are liberating these people but he was buried with a Ukrainian flag because he was a Ukrainian man in Ukraine. The biggest enemy to the Kremlin. Two weeks later I went to visit his grave and I found Елка, russian for Christmas Tree, sitting 100m meters from his grave, waiting near the entrance of his usual place of work. I brought her home and found his family but his wife and child are living in an IDP centre, their lives uprooted by war, and they can’t take her in. Now Julie is mine. A constant reminder of why I am here, why I am fighting and why no matter what propagandists will tell you about Donetsk Oblast, it’s all just Kremlin bullshit. The most common theme with these Vatniks is that they will say anything to blame anyone else but the people who are guilty of the crimes. They will scream about Nazis and corruption, like russia doesn’t have an extreme problem with both of these things, to excuse genocide. A soldier has a choice when he holds a gun and enters a town. And we see time and time again what russians are capable of doing to other human beings. We will never forget and we will never forgive. #RussiaIsATerroristState #StandWithUkraine

Before I was a soldier, I traveled frontline areas, mostly in Donetsk Oblast, to bring food and water to civilians living under russian terror - for 2 years. Eventually I was evacuating people and animals more than I was bringing in aid. Julie (Pictured) was my friend Sergei’s dog. Sergei helped me find the animals and people in Sivers’k who needed help the most, in the areas of the city that was usually off limits. Julie was always with him as he was driving around helping the people of Sivers’k, his home town, now under constant shelling and FPV threat by the russians. On April 14th,2024 Sergei and three others were murdered by russians. Their only crime, being Ukrainian on Ukrainian soil. I found out through a telegram channel notification, “4 civilians killed in Sivers’k”. There were no names but I instantly knew he was gone. russians will call this land their own and say they are liberating these people but he was buried with a Ukrainian flag because he was a Ukrainian man in Ukraine. The biggest enemy to the Kremlin. Two weeks later I went to visit his grave and I found Елка, russian for Christmas Tree, sitting 100m meters from his grave, waiting near the entrance of his usual place of work. I brought her home and found his family but his wife and child are living in an IDP centre, their lives uprooted by war, and they can’t take her in. Now Julie is mine. A constant reminder of why I am here, why I am fighting and why no matter what propagandists will tell you about Donetsk Oblast, it’s all just Kremlin bullshit. The most common theme with these Vatniks is that they will say anything to blame anyone else but the people who are guilty of the crimes. They will scream about Nazis and corruption, like russia doesn’t have an extreme problem with both of these things, to excuse genocide. A soldier has a choice when he holds a gun and enters a town. And we see time and time again what russians are capable of doing to other human beings. We will never forget and we will never forgive. #RussiaIsATerroristState #StandWithUkraine

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Videos

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I am set up in my tent for the night, with my poncho stretched out as best as I could manage in the dark. Ignore me shoving everything into my backpack so I can prop up my feet. First, thank you to everyone who continues to share my journey, donate to my battalion, and help me support my soldiers. Every share and every donation matters more than you know. But I also want to take a moment to say something, not for the person who zoomed in on a photograph of my face to mock the peach fuzz, but for every woman who might see something like that and suddenly feel ashamed of her own body. Hair on a woman’s body is normal. Peach fuzz is normal. Chin hairs are normal. Hormonal changes are normal. Bodies change after pregnancy, with age, with stress, and throughout our lives. Some women remove their facial hair, and some do not. I do not dermaplane, and I have no intention of starting because somebody on the internet decided my natural face was something to ridicule. I have darker hairs on my chin that I pluck. I am not embarrassed to say that. I am a human being. Women are constantly held to impossible beauty standards. Men experience it too. We are taught to inspect ourselves, criticize ourselves, and feel ashamed of the completely normal bodies we live in. Please do not allow cruel people to decide how you feel about yourself. Your body does not have to be flawless to be beautiful. You do not have to change yourself to deserve confidence, respect, or love. Love yourself. Take up space. Be human. #LoveYourself #StandWithUkraine

April Huggett

13,345 просмотров • 7 дней назад

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I am a #Canadian woman serving as a medic in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I have seen what this war does up close. I have seen soldiers joke through exhaustion because if they stop laughing, they might break. I have seen villages emptied, animals left behind, homes turned into ruins, and good people carrying more pain than any human should ever have to carry. And still, every day, our people keep going. But courage does not stop drones. Hope does not replace medical supplies, batteries, radios, vehicles, generators, or the equipment that keeps our soldiers alive. That is why I am asking for help. The Alcatraz Battalion needs support urgently. We are fighting with everything we have, but we are constantly short of what we need. Every delay costs us. Every missing piece of equipment puts someone’s son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, or friend in more danger. I know people are tired. I know the world is overwhelmed. I know there are a million causes asking for your attention. But please don’t look away from Ukraine. Behind every fundraiser is a real person trying to survive another day. Behind every donation is a chance that someone comes home alive. Even the smallest amount matters here. It turns into fuel for evacuations. It turns into medical supplies. It turns into batteries, protection, repairs, and time. Sometimes it turns into the difference between life and death. Donate if you can. Share if you can’t. Send this to someone who might help. We are not asking for comfort. We are asking for the tools to keep fighting, keep rescuing, keep holding the line, and keep our people alive. Ukraine is still here. We are still here. And we still need you. #Support93 #SupportUkraine

April Huggett

66,727 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад

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A lot of people have been asking where I am and if I am ok. I am preparing. In two weeks, I will begin my first vacation in nearly two years. I won't be spending it on a beach. I won't be traveling abroad. I won't be resting. Instead, I will walk home. From Maidan and the Alley of Heroes in Kyiv to Kramatorsk. Hundreds of kilometers. Roughly 50 kilometers every day. In the summer heat, where temperatures regularly reach 28°C and above. I have my own health challenges, and there will be days when every step hurts. But compared to what my soldiers endure every day, that discomfort is insignificant. I am doing this because it is easy for the frontline to feel distant when you are not living beside it. For my soldiers, there is no distance. The war is present in every day, every decision, and every kilometer of ground they defend. But my soldiers are still there. They are still defending #Ukraine. They are still living in frontline villages and cities. They are still carrying the weight of a war that most people only see through a screen. Donbas is Ukraine. And Donbas is not some distant place on a map. It is home. My soldiers are former prisoners. Even if they are granted a vacation, it does not look like yours or mine. They will still remain close. They do not get to simply walk away from it. So I am asking for your help. This walk is about awareness, but awareness alone does not keep soldiers alive. Equipment does. Vehicles do. Communications do. Drones do. Recently, our only ground drone struck a mine and was destroyed. That wasn't just a piece of equipment. It was a lifeline. It delivered water. It carried supplies. It reduced risk to the soldiers who depended on it. Now it is gone. And what we have in the field is what we have. That is not a position any unit should be forced into. My goal is to raise a minimum of $50,000 during this journey so that my battalion can continue operating, continue adapting, and continue bringing our people home. Every kilometer I walk is for the soldiers who cannot leave. Every kilometer is for the fallen whose flags stand in the Alley of Heroes. Every kilometer is for Donbas. Every kilometer is for Ukraine. If you can donate, please do. If you cannot donate, share this campaign. Help me carry this message from Kyiv to Kramatorsk. The war is not over. And neither are we. #Support93 #SupportUkraine

April Huggett

16,717 просмотров • 1 месяц назад