AN INITIATIVE to provide brave troops defending Ukraine with a taste of Scotland is returning for its second year.

Café Ukraine, the pop-up project by resident Alan Smart, will be sending a van full of Burns Night supper food to the front lines.

Starting yesterday, the Haggis for Heroes appeal is urging people in Clackmannanshire to provide cans of haggis, so front line soldiers and emergency workers can enjoy a Burns supper.

Alan said: “I can think of few better ways of honouring the international message of Robert Burns than to send haggis to troops and emergency workers fighting for the freedom of their country – and on the shared birthday of Robert Burns and President Zelenskyy.

“The idea for the appeal was made in Scotland and in Ukraine.

“Yuri Kamaran, a Ukrainian refugee living in Dollar told his brother, a soldier in the Ukrainian army, how much he enjoyed haggis.

“His brother said haggis sounded like a tasty and nutritious meal that soldiers living on the front line would enjoy and so the idea was born.

“And when better to give and eat haggis than on Burns Day?”

Residents wishing to get involved can donate cans of haggis to Café Ukraine in the run up to and on Burns’ Day itself, which is on Thursday, January 25.

For health and safety reasons, the appeal is currently unable to accept skin bagged haggis.

The first departure from Café Ukraine took place yesterday, driven to Ukraine by Yuri, who now resides in Dollar.

Yuri will also be delivering a Burns Box hamper, providing the Ukrainian soldiers with everything they need to host a successful Burns’ Supper alongside a portrait of Robert Burns and a book of his poems.

Yuri added: “As well as enjoying the taste of haggis, many for the very first time, I am certain this small gesture of friendship will be long remembered by people in Ukraine.”

Front line soldiers will spend Burns Day 2024 celebrating the lives of Robert Burns but also Ukraine’s national poet, Taras Shevchenko.

Donations can be handed into Cafe Ukraine at 12 Bridge Street, Dollar.