A surgeon will be helping on the front line in Ukraine by training medics who are treating wounded soldiers.

Gianluca Colucci will lead a team of surgeons from the UK who will be teaching surgery and treatment techniques.

Gianluca, a surgeon at Worthing Hospital and lecturer at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, said he also wants to create “a little bit of normality away from the war” by helping with routine medical procedures that have been lost in the war effort.

He said: “This project is very close to my heart even from the name. IOLE (Improving Outcomes in Laproscopy by Education) was my mother’s name. She was an active Red Cross volunteer and an example for many.

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“We aim to support civilian needs and try to bring a bit of normality to the doctors who have been overwhelmed by the needs brought by the war with the added element of helping in developing keyhole surgery in the Ukraine.

“While the war is still raging, there are all the necessities that a normal population has. People still have cancer and need treatment even during the war. And this is a war that has been now going on for almost two years.”

As part of the aid, Gianluca and other surgeons will be helping to teach frontline medics to provide training and medical supplies.

The charity effort by SmartMedicalAid also provides ambulances to Ukraine.

Gianluca has created a JustGiving page to raise funds to provide the treatment and aid.

He and his team have been training medics in Kharkiv to save the lives of wounded soldiers.

He travelled to Ukraine to help provide aid in May last year and was there for three weeks. He went again in April for two weeks.

The team will also run a course at a hospital in Lutsk this month which will provide key skills for surgery trainees in Ukraine.