The war in Ukraine is not just a battle for its sovereignty; it’s a defining struggle for the future of Europe.
This reality became starkly clear during a visit to Lviv, a city that has become a relative haven for those fleeing the horrors of Russia’s aggression.
Travelling with HopeFull, a charity that delivers joy to displaced civilians through something as simple as pizza, revealed the resilience of a nation fighting for survival and why their fight is ours, too.
HopeFull, a charity founded by David Fox-Pitt aims to spread positivity to civilians whose lives have been turned upside down.
It’s no small task – trying to bring a smile out of a family who may have lost friends, family, or lovers, but you’d be surprised how much a pizza and a dancing Scot in a kilt of Ukrainian tartan can do so.
Lines of children, mothers, grandmothers, and occasionally soldiers in training formed around the pop-up vans everywhere we went for a hot pizza straight out of the oven.
It’s not the food itself that makes a difference though, it’s something more, as Józef Mycielski, leading fundraising and communications for the charity, explained: “I never expected us to have the reach that we did, but we’ve got the trust of the Ukrainian people.
“The stories are brutal of their reality, family members dying, personal injury, and some of the things they’ve seen is horrendous.
“It might be a pizza and a drink, but it’s more than that.
“It’s a hand of hope and love – every single pizza, in my mind, is a smile and a hug.
“If we have given these incredibly resilient but battered people a bit more energy to keep going, then I think that is entirely worthwhile.”
The stories behind the faces
Most of the Ukrainians we were visiting were what are called ‘internally displaced people’, or IDPs, meaning they’ve fled from the east to escape Russian terror and occupation and are living in ambiguous conditions – sometimes in a small shack to themselves or family, and sometimes in a large flat block that, understandably, we didn’t intrude upon.
Ina is from Berdyansk, a port city in Ukraine’s southeast, and escaped with her two daughters – Angelica and Stanislava, but her 16-year-old son and mother are still in the Russian-occupied land.
They left so the children didn’t have to attend a Russian school an be ‘brainwashed’.
Defiant ones are taken by Russians, tortured, imprisoned, raped, and killed.
She told me horrifying stories of what has become of her homeland.
“They killed a lot of people, even children,” she tells me, and that in a number of cases, men with guns arrive at homes, forcibly take mothers and wives and rape them.
In one case that she recalled a husband was beaten to near death in front of his children because he didn’t want to let his wife go.
The main challenge faced now is missing home, especially as the Ina’s mother remains there, battling cancer.
Many people, including children, have been killed or disappeared, and the psychological impact is severe, with Ina’s daughters still terrified by sounds resembling bombers.
Ukrainians in many occupied territories, like Berdyansk and Mariupol, are coerced into adopting Russian citizenship and face eviction and property loss if they don’t.
It’s not clear what has happened to her child son as the family remains separated due to the conflict, with communication strictly monitored.
Ina is an example of many displaced people who struggle to find hope in their current circumstance, but see their situation as ‘surviving’, as she put it.
Ludmilla fled from Karkhiv with her infant daughter Lzlata and told us that HopeFull is something they look forward to – Lzlata eagerly getting stuck into the ‘pizza masterclass’, a comical pizza making ‘workshop’ for the children run by the charity’s founder, involving a great deal of mucking around and laughs.
The duality of hope and sacrifice
The trip was defined by contrast – whisked to an out-of-town location to make people smile and eat a shedload of pizza at one point, and then the next trip would be to somewhere heartbreaking.
One such location was a pop-up cemetery of dead soldiers, most of which had a Ukrainian flag for decoration and a symbol of national resistance.
The majority of the graves were occupied by older people who go so their children don’t have to, many were my father’s age, while others are younger volunteers, including a friend of Volodymyr who was helping us translate.
The two met at work, but he volunteered for the fights and sadly fell victim to the onslaught and left behind young children who decorated his grave with toys and sweets.
Every Ukrainian I spoke to knew at least of someone close to them who is a direct victim of the war in some way.
One of the volunteers, Olga, works with volunteer Simon on a rehabilitation programme focused on moral trauma, inspired by Western models for veterans, promoting peer-to-peer support.
This program began in June with backing from local authorities and aims to establish systematic protocols for broader implementation.
She’s visited Ukraine over ten times, partly due to personal connections, including a boyfriend in the Ukrainian army.
Olga said she met her boyfriend while volunteering with a charity that transports refugees and assists the Ukrainian army with supplies.
Despite him fighting on the frontline, she remains respectful of his decision to do so, despite being within a profession that protects him from conscription.
“If we met before I would probably be more sore about it, but I think the whole love has grown out of my gigantic, huge respect to what he does because he volunteered.
“That's his choice, he's a grown man and I'm there to support him.”
It’s still hard though, but she said it’s just something you get used to, including the thought that he could die any day.
“When you do this for two and a half years, it just gets left somewhere in the back of your mind.”
Her understanding of the war, as someone with Ukrainian heritage and a boyfriend in the army, is that no matter what, Ukraine will never yield.
“Most of them haven't had any proper break for three years but they’re just extremely resilient.
“People talk about low morale, and yes, there is some aggravation with lack of help and with some poor decisions, but generally, nobody's backing off.
“They're going to stand to the last man.”
The next day we visited a hospital in which people who lost their limbs await treatment and, eventually, prosthetics if available.
Where before we were blasting upbeat music, dancing, singing, and smiling – here we were sombre and respectful of the soldiers’ trauma that happened mere months before they arrived.
One man had his leg blown off by a mine he stepped on accidently during a night walk, another had his destroyed by a sniper’s bullet – no one is keen to discuss their injuries, not even with each other.
In fact conversation is kept short and they thank us for the pizzas and we don’t stay in their shared hospital rooms too long, one of our team leaving a bottle of Scotch as a discreet treat.
Of the few things they did tell us, and in fact what they all shared, was a desire for other nations in Europe to back the frontline by way of funding or weapons.
Olga previously echoed this when asked what the UK and other western nations can do to help.
“Give them arms - everyone who's involved with Ukraine would say that.”
Terrifyingly, this war has been dominated by drones that ominously whizz around low airspace and either drop bombs or kamikaze into vehicles and people.
Vlad – not his real name – was a computer science teacher in his eastern home city, at the start of his career in education and working with children.
Now, he makes bomber drones and teaches soldiers how to control them, and how to kill Russians.
With a smirk that appeared to us all to be masking a great trauma at his situation and the ongoing plight of his nation, he told us, while his pizza cooled, that these drones cost around $500-$600 to make, depending on size and bomb used – chump change for some of us but these drones are hard to come by, and are made via parts from a foreign source.
The service has changed over the years.
Mr Fox-Pitt, a commanding character of ferocious positivity and tenacity, founded the charity after his aunt died, becoming active during Covid by delivering bags of groceries to healthcare workers.
His initiative shifted focus to Ukraine during the war, providing pizzas and humanitarian aid to displaced individuals.
So far, HopeFull has served nearly 1,800 sites in Ukraine with pizza, drinks, and has delivered humanitarian aid through Scottish charity partnerships.
The fleet consists of eight vehicles, including freezers, which help serve up to 5,000 people a day.
He tells me outside the hospital: “We’re not among a starvation problem, it’s more about morale, hearts and minds.”
It’s a tough job but not as tough as the soldiers’; Fox-Pitt reminds himself and colleagues of this regularly.
It’s also a reminder on how integral this war is to us in the UK.
“This is also your war.
“If you don't support Ukraine, Russia will then move west, as they have done in the past.
“It's the Ukrainians that we're here for, they're the ones bearing the brunt of this, missing their legs, wounded in the head.
“A lot of them are dead.
“This is a national trauma, but it has to be shared because if we don't, it will be us next.”
How to help
HopeFull relies on its volunteers to carry on its vital mission and could use your support.
While Putin continues to bombard Ukraine with inhumane terror, please consider how you can help by donating to HopeFull.
This could be as involved as volunteering your time personally to the charity, or as simple as making a small cash donation.
Any help goes a long way in realising the longevity of Ukraine and spreading joy to a war torn nation.
Героям слава!
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel