KRAMATORSK: Working in a sushi restaurant in Eastern Ukraine, Igor Besukho As he prepares the next command, turns on the music to drown out the sound of air raid sirens.
But the music couldn’t hide the deafening sound of a missile that hit the middle kramatorsk On Fridays, get off at the city’s Peace Square near the Town Hall, Culture Center and Sushi Bar, where feel helpless Works.
The restaurant is one of the few still open in the city, which is only 20 kilometers (12 mi) from the frontline with Russian troops in the industrial Donbass region. Russia trying to win.
When they heard the explosion, the employees of the restaurant “Voka” with red lacquered walls and Asian design quickly moved to a shelter.
They re-emerged 20 minutes later to check the damage. Despite the plywood panels being installed, all the windows and doors were broken.
He cleared the debris and continued preparations while waiting for orders to be placed.
There were no casualties after the strike that took place at around 8:00 pm, but the impact broke the windows of several nearby buildings.
“It was a very loud sound. We didn’t expect it, of course. I was scared,” says the tattoo-covered 23-year-old chef.
Coming back to work the next day was not easy, he admits, although “war is war, but lunch should be done on time,” he smiles, citing a popular saying.
Besukh has worked in restaurants for many years. Now its main customers are soldiers stationed in Kramatorsk or soldiers returning from the front.
The city, with a pre-war population of about 150,000, is now under constant threat of shelling.
One was killed in an attack on a hotel on 7 July. More than 50 people were killed in a previous strike at a busy railway station in April.
AFP interviewed restaurant staff shortly before Friday’s attack and then returned on Saturday when everything was cleared.
Wooden protective panels were re-installed and orders were piling up on a glass-fronted counter, behind which Bessie was working.
He arranges, rolls and cuts up to a hundred pieces of sushi at the restaurant open every day since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Open since 2016, the sushi bar today employs seven of the 28 employees it had before the war.
“It’s normal to work even in this situation,” says Besukh, whose culinary career has taken him to the capital. Kyivon the shore of sea of azovi And now back to his hometown of Kramatorsk.
Asked if he considers joining the military, he smiles and says: “Why should I? I have no experience, I will be of no use”.
“Here I help in a certain way,” says the young man, who dreams of opening his own restaurant one day.
For now, the restaurant serves 10 to 30 dishes per day, all for takeaway or delivery.
For security reasons, customers are not allowed to eat inside.
“Imagine if a missile hits the restaurant, it is a huge responsibility for us,” the restaurant owner, Dmitry Pleskanovsaid, just hours before the missile landed on Peace Square.
But the music couldn’t hide the deafening sound of a missile that hit the middle kramatorsk On Fridays, get off at the city’s Peace Square near the Town Hall, Culture Center and Sushi Bar, where feel helpless Works.
The restaurant is one of the few still open in the city, which is only 20 kilometers (12 mi) from the frontline with Russian troops in the industrial Donbass region. Russia trying to win.
When they heard the explosion, the employees of the restaurant “Voka” with red lacquered walls and Asian design quickly moved to a shelter.
They re-emerged 20 minutes later to check the damage. Despite the plywood panels being installed, all the windows and doors were broken.
He cleared the debris and continued preparations while waiting for orders to be placed.
There were no casualties after the strike that took place at around 8:00 pm, but the impact broke the windows of several nearby buildings.
“It was a very loud sound. We didn’t expect it, of course. I was scared,” says the tattoo-covered 23-year-old chef.
Coming back to work the next day was not easy, he admits, although “war is war, but lunch should be done on time,” he smiles, citing a popular saying.
Besukh has worked in restaurants for many years. Now its main customers are soldiers stationed in Kramatorsk or soldiers returning from the front.
The city, with a pre-war population of about 150,000, is now under constant threat of shelling.
One was killed in an attack on a hotel on 7 July. More than 50 people were killed in a previous strike at a busy railway station in April.
AFP interviewed restaurant staff shortly before Friday’s attack and then returned on Saturday when everything was cleared.
Wooden protective panels were re-installed and orders were piling up on a glass-fronted counter, behind which Bessie was working.
He arranges, rolls and cuts up to a hundred pieces of sushi at the restaurant open every day since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Open since 2016, the sushi bar today employs seven of the 28 employees it had before the war.
“It’s normal to work even in this situation,” says Besukh, whose culinary career has taken him to the capital. Kyivon the shore of sea of azovi And now back to his hometown of Kramatorsk.
Asked if he considers joining the military, he smiles and says: “Why should I? I have no experience, I will be of no use”.
“Here I help in a certain way,” says the young man, who dreams of opening his own restaurant one day.
For now, the restaurant serves 10 to 30 dishes per day, all for takeaway or delivery.
For security reasons, customers are not allowed to eat inside.
“Imagine if a missile hits the restaurant, it is a huge responsibility for us,” the restaurant owner, Dmitry Pleskanovsaid, just hours before the missile landed on Peace Square.