World Central Kitchen in Ukraine destroyed by Russian missile [Video]

• A World Central Kitchen partner restaurant, Yaposhka, was destroyed when a Russian missile hit Kharkiv, Ukraine.
• Four staff members were injured and are currently recovering in a hospital.
• Still, they kept up their cooking operations by moving all food products & non-damaged equipment to another kitchen location.

Yaposhka, a World Central Kitchen (WCK) partner restaurant, suffered “tremendous amounts of damage” after a Russian missile hit Kharkiv, Ukraine, over the weekend.

Nate Mook, the CEO of the not-for-profit organization, shared a video of the aftermath on Twitter. He said that “nobody was killed in the restaurant,” but there was at least one reported death in the attack. Four WCK staff members were wounded and have sought hospital treatment.

The New York Times reported at least two civilian deaths and 18 injured in the airstrike in Kharkiv on Saturday.

Mook said that he had just visited the kitchen shortly before the attack in the neighborhood, which was a residential and business area.

He said, “This is the reality for so many right now in Kharkiv: Coming to work, cooking for people that are hungry is an immense act of bravery.”

Mook visited the injured WCK staff members on Sunday and introduced them on Twitter as “true heroes.” He wrote, “Yulia, Liza, and Yulia are in good spirits & recovering in the hospital after the missile attack.”

Celebrity chef José Andrés, who founded WCK, told TODAY that serving food to Ukrainian residents and refugees is “the least we can do.”

He acknowledged that “food is only a Band-Aid, in this situation,” but added that “at least a plate of food is giving hope.”

The WCK staff still kept up its cooking operations by moving all of its products and equipment to another location in the city.

Andrés said, “They’re gonna be — if not today, tomorrow morning — already cooking. They say, ‘We are here to be food fighters, we are here to feed our people.’”

The celebrity chef praised his team’s bravery on Twitter, writing, “Food heroes them all! Relief that so far that just were 4 wounded…..praying for them!” He added, “We are #FoodFighters but the Russian attacks must stop against civilian buildings and markets and churches and schools etc.”

WCK set up mobile kitchens on the Ukrainian border and near transit hubs after the Russian invasion of Ukraine started. They have feeding stations in Poland and Spain, as well as a partner restaurant in Ukraine.

They have since served over 9 million meals to refugees as of last week.

Source: TODAY