For an hour at least they were not child victims of Putin's war of terror

The pizzas that Scottish charity HopeFull serves in Ukraine are a reminder that the West has not forgotten the country's struggle to defend itself from Russian forces – yet

I have to admit that when I was first approached by the charity to travel to Ukraine as their guest, I was a tad sceptical. Surely the people of Ukraine need warm clothes and weapons, not a pizza delivery.

But after a week with the HopeFull team, which includes volunteers from Edinburgh, I am an enthusiastic fan of pizzas in a war zone.

As queues of children lined up to watch the antics of Hopefull’s founder David Fox-Pitt as he prepared pizzas for the oven, I realised that for an hour at least, they were not the child victims of Putin’s war of terror, but boys and girls enjoying a free show with lots of delicious pizza on the side.

There were bananas and oranges on offer too, to make sure they got some of their five-a-day, and even a few chocolates to share.

And while the older women, refugees from their homes near the frontline, were more guarded in their response, you could tell the pizzas were welcome.

Hospitality to strangers is a big part of Ukrainian life and food is central to that, so they understand that people from Scotland delivering pizza is more than a charitable gesture.

It is an act of solidarity and hope. What was even more striking was how few men there were in the queues, save for those over fighting age. Every man from 25 to 60 is expected to fight. Many younger men join up too. And there are more than 60,000 women in the military.

I can’t begin to imagine the toll this war is having on the Ukrainian people. It will take at least a generation to recover from the terror of living in a war zone.

Its economy has been devasted, tens of thousands of men have been killed or injured, and children are growing up in fear. Yet as we handed out pizzas, studded with salami and smothered in cheese, we could all forget for a moment that we were in the middle of a bloody conflict. Until evening fell, and Putin’s drones took to the air.

Find out more about Hopefull at www.hopefull.org.uk