While the supply of food is sometimes difficult in times of war, the operation of the largest flour factory in kyiv is a strategic issue.
Article written by
Published
Reading time : 1 min.
It is a huge seven-storey building in the north of kyiv. The main flour factory in the capital has continued its activity since the beginning of the war against Russia thanks to the mobilization of many volunteers. The site has become a strategic site: one of the concerns in the Ukrainian capital concerns the supply of food. If the city were to be surrounded, this would pose major problems for the delivery of certain products. Bread has become a precious commodity.
>> War in Ukraine, 28th day: follow our live
On this industrial site, some 600 tonnes of cereals are processed daily to produce 450 tonnes of flour. “We supply the Kyiv region with wheat flour so that people can have bread, because it is very important in the current situation.”, says Konstantin, the factory’s sales manager, on a tour of the engine room, the heart of the business.
The majority of the 250 employees, many of them women, left at the start of the war. The men stayed: it’s obligatory. But volunteers, like Andrey, who emerges from a building with his face and uniform covered in flour, have decided to join the factory to allow him to continue filming: “We are in a situation where we have to help each other, be united. I have not done military service, I do not know how to use a weapon, but I want to make myself useful.”
Even Vitaly, a local elected official, came to help: “This place has become one of the most strategic businesses in the city, because there is a risk that Kyiv will be surrounded. If that were the case, the food supply would become very difficult.” Here, like the mayor of the city, no employee envisages a Ukrainian defeat in kyiv.