Michael Alexander speaks to a Perthshire adventurer who, almost a year after he set off on his ‘Make Pizza Not War’ mission to help Ukrainian refugees, says humanitarian support on the ground is needed now more than ever.
Perthshire adventurer David Fox-Pitt has seen at first hand the devastating impact of war.
In the 12 months since he first set off from Loch Tay on his ‘Make Pizza Not War’ mission to help Ukrainian refugees in Poland, and latterly Ukraine itself, he’s seen up close the destructive madness of trench warfare that “wouldn’t look out of place in the First World War”.
The frontlines of adversity
He’s fed traumatised families left without food, power, water and money near the frontlines, as rockets have rained down.
He’s heard traumatic stories of atrocities including Ukrainian girls and women “from three to 90” being raped by Russian soldiers.
He’s slept on the floor of a friend’s apartment under heavy bombardment where the only washing facilities were seawater.
With slaughter on both sides, he even spares a thought for the young Russian conscripts being mown down by Ukrainian fire, only to be shot by Putin-fanatic Chechnyans in their own ranks if they try to run.
Every day, his kilted team of volunteers are now feeding around 4000 people, working from three different outlets inside Ukraine.
Their mobile operation serving pizza, tea, coffee, biscuits and other snacks aims to boost morale and demonstrate support from Scotland and the wider international community.
They have been venturing most recently into battle weary eastern provinces recently vacated by the Russian Army.
None of this would be possible without the generosity of donations to his charity, Siobhan’s Trust or the support of the volunteers, charities and pizza companies all doing what they can.
However, David is saddened that when he speaks to some people back home, they sometimes think that because there’s now less coverage of the war on the mainstream news, that somehow the conflict must be “over”.
Holding off ‘devil incarnate’ Putin
David wants it to be known that this is far from so, and he believes people in “the west” need to be reminded of the terrible price the Ukrainians are paying on their behalf.
“When you are feeding these people pizza, tea coffee, you can see they are incredibly resilient people,” said David.
“They are very tough. You see it in their eyes.
“A lot of them are very worn – they’ve been through months of bombardment. They’ve lost their sons, their husbands.
“If it’s a child, their dad is fighting.
“If it’s a young woman, their husband is fighting.
“If it’s an old babushka, the husband or son is fighting.
“If a bomb comes in when we are serving them, they don’t even flinch now.
“But the biggest terror they have is that we forget about them.
“They say ‘we are fighting your war. We are paying with our blood, you are paying with your bills.
“Just remember that, because if you don’t support us, you’ll be next.
“We are the buffer between the evil devil incarnate of Putin and we are holding him off’.
“But they worry it’ll become like a 2014 situation whereby Russia invaded and most of us hardly knew it was happening anyway!”
How David was inspired to act
Mr Fox-Pitt, who established Siobhan’s Trust in memory of his late aunt, the Countess of Dundee, in 2020, set off on his ‘Make Pizza Not War’ mission to the Poland-Ukraine border in early March last year.
As millions of mainly women and children were displaced westwards by the conflict, the tented field kitchen him and his small evolving band of volunteers were running on the Polish side of the border at Medyka was kept “manically busy”.
As refugees streamed over the border, kilt-wearing David and his team were just 25 yards from the border fence handing out over 2000 cups of soup, tea and coffee per day, as well as chocolate, bananas, sweets, cakes, Pot Noodles and porridge.
The pizza they were serving proved particularly popular amongst the exhausted, traumatised souls.
Assisted by volunteers from the United Sikhs, soup was also taken into Ukraine via “trolley convoys” to feed exhausted women and children queuing for hours in freezing conditions before they could cross.
Warm clothes and blankets were also distributed.
Thanks to financial donations to Siobhan’s Trust, David and his team re-supplied from a local Polish supermarket, often exhausted and working in challenging conditions.
From May onwards, however, they decided to stop their operation in Poland.
Moving operations into Ukraine
They realised the “real need” was in Ukraine itself where they continue operating now – despite the fact that going into Ukraine makes their insurance “null and void” because it’s a war zone.
“We moved to Lviv and from there we’ve been to every main city now in Ukraine,” he said.
“That includes Kherson which is probably the most dangerous because the Russians had just been kicked out a week before we were invited in.
“The police escort us to various places.
“We do it properly, otherwise they’ll think ‘who are these funny people coming in wearing kilts, serving pizza, without permission?’”
‘Close call’ missile strikes
David said they’ve had a “couple of close ones”.
One day about 50 rockets came in while they were feeding people.
They realised they needed to be out of artillery range because it’s “not good for the wellbeing of volunteers” to be under fire.
They’ve also been to Kharkiv and lots of towns east towards the Russian border.
“We just turn up in the main town square,” he says.
“Locals all know by Facebook these guys are coming.
“In the east it’s mainly old women and old men who turn out. Occasionally a few children.
“In the west it’s like nine million women and children.
“In the east it’s tough burly stoical babushka.
“They are all there waiting like the mother-in-laws with their handbags and their scarves waiting for this pizza.
“They wouldn’t be queuing for two or three hours with the bombs going off if they weren’t desperate.
“You go to a town like Izyum and half the town is destroyed.”
When they started they were hand making around 300 pizzas per day.
Now, thanks to donations from Bologna-based Italpizza and German pizza company Dr Oetker, they are able to provide thousands more.
The pizzas have been donated free, but David’s charity has to pay for their transport to Ukraine, cold storage and then the delivery plus cooking with gas.
It works out at something like £1 per pizza on cost, David said, with something like 500,000 pizzas now served since they started.
Volunteers stay in basic accommodation to keep costs down.
Many stay in western Ukraine.
“Hardier” ones travel nearer to the frontlines in the east.
Cross-party ‘under the radar’ visit from UK
David, who’s spent “about 50%” of the last year in Poland/Ukraine, said another important way to keep the profile up was a recent cross-party “under the radar” visit he hosted for Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith and Labour’s Judith Cummins.
“I took them for a tour of the front north east of Kharkiv,” he said, “so that they could see with their own eyes the destruction.
“They were the first MPs to go any further east than Kiev, so it was a really important visit.
“It’s all about awareness as well. They saw for themselves the horrors and destruction.
“We were operating around Kharkiv when they came out, so they got stuck into the pizza van.
“They were doing hot drinks for a couple of days. It was great just to see what we do. They were very brave.
“But also to raise awareness of combat stress.
“More and more soldiers are taking their own lives.
“And the Ukrainians obviously want more tanks and weapons.”
Keeping Ukrainian hopes alive
The Siobhan Trust’s core team on the ground are Tom Hughes who runs the operations within Ukraine; Harry Scrymgeour (Siobhan’s son) who takes care of logistics and pizza coordination; Audrey McAlpine, USA long term volunteer; Kevin Fisher, Zimbabwe long term volunteer; Nina from Zaporizhzhia, Olya from near Odesa and Vlod and Sacha in Lviv.
David said that obviously no one knows when or how the conflict is going to end.
But he hopes they can just keep “doing what they are doing” and working with others.
“We’ve helped distribute about 42 artic trucks of goods, medical aid, food, toys you name it,” he added.
“We’ll also give out teddies, rugby balls, footballs and toys which we keep stashed under the table.
“It couldn’t be done without donations or the amazing volunteers who keep coming out to keep it going.
“We need to remember the majority of Ukrainians just want Russia out of their country.
“It’s just humbling to serve these people and see their resolve.
“Everyone who comes out in our teams is incredibly moved by it.
“It’s probably the most important thing they’ve ever done in their lives. Probably the most important thing I’ve ever done in my life.
“All I know is we are providing a huge amount of love, care, kindness, hope and moral for the Ukrainians. And by God do they need it!”
Want to help Siobhan’s Trust?
To donate to Siobhan’s Trust or to volunteer go to siobhanstrust.uk/
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