Aid from Wiltshire helping to make 3,000 pizzas a day in Ukraine

An aid worker, who went to Ukraine two years ago to hand out free pizza, has been serving them ever since.

Tom Hughes, from Hinton in Wiltshire, drives a truck with 11 ovens to bake pizzas for communities in the war-torn country.

He first traveled to the Poland/Ukraine border in March 2022, intending to stay for two weeks to help refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.

He now manages a fleet of seven vehicles and two teams for the charity, HopeFull, one based in Lviv and the other in eastern Ukraine, where Russian bombing is a daily occurrence.

“In most of the places we work there is absolutely no hope left,” Mr Hughes told BBC Wiltshire.

“People are stuck in the middle of a terrible war, they feel very forgotten and have nothing to smile about.

“Children, especially, their lives are being destroyed.

“We show up and play upbeat music from the speakers and interact as much as possible to create a happy day,” he added.

The team produces around 3,000 pizzas a day – mainly for women, children and the elderly – as many of the men are involved in the defense of the country.

The charity describes it as baking pizzas to give people a “slice of hope” when they need it.

“Every day mothers tell me their child has smiled for the first time since the war started,” Mr Hughes said.

“For me, that’s the biggest part of our work – combating the deep trauma from the endless explosions and pain caused by Russian aggression.

“It’s a really easy way to bring nutrition to places because you can cook a pizza in about a minute.

“It’s a luxury dish. It sounds crazy, but here is an aspirational food product.”

By November 2022, the charity was tracking the Ukrainian army as it advanced into the east of the country.

The team had to fend off anti-personnel mines scattered by the retreating Russian army.

On one occasion, Mr Hughes was working with colleagues in newly liberated Kherson when they came under heavy artillery fire for five days and said they were “lucky” to survive.

Since then, the charity has stayed at least 25km (16 miles) away from Russian forces to avoid danger.

“Every night we listen to the rockets coming into every city in the east and together with the entire population we pray that our building will not be hit,” Mr Hughes said.

“Every little village has a score of fresh graves and every family mourns a fallen hero.”