Ludmila is no longer able to walk. The shelling which completely destroyed her home in the east of Ukraine caused a fire in which her legs and feet were badly burnt.

“She had to spend some time in hospital,” says Andriy Shpygunov, who met the 75-year-old lady in January, when he distributed gift-filled boxes from Blythswood’s Shoe Box Appeal. “When she was discharged she had nowhere to go and so ended up the refuge for displaced people in Khmelnytskyia area.

“Like a child she rejoiced over the Christmas gifts you sent her. Since all her belongings were destroyed in the fire, these are now the only things she has of her own.”