Bread factory holds up amid hopes of recovery in Ukraine; see photos

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Balls of dough roll across the assembly line and a sweet aroma fills the air at a bread factory that embodies Ukraine’s determination and its attempt at recovery 100 days after the start of the Russian invasion.

Located near the capital Kiev, the Tsar-Khlib factory continued production despite advancing Russian troops and kept the city’s residents fed despite a missile attack on a nearby facility.

Tsar-Khlib faced extreme challenges, including the fact that many of his workers were trapped in territory controlled by Russian forces and that most of his clients fled for safety.

“But we soon realized that we had to keep producing because some people were staying,” said production director Anton Paliy, 43.

At one point, the factory was less than eight kilometers from the front line, until the withdrawal of Russian troops from the area at the end of March.

Operating with just a fraction of its 800 employees, the factory now produces 16 tonnes of fresh bread a day, compared to the normal level of 100 tonnes.

When the air raid sirens sounded, the workers rushed to the basement. When they returned, they found piles of fresh bread cluttered outside the oven.

According to Paliy, the sound of the machines drowned out the sounds of war in the background and made the situation a little more psychologically bearable.

“We did our job”

Located just a few hundred meters away, the modern Shanta factory was not so lucky. The facility was targeted by Russian missiles on March 16, which destroyed half of the building.

Olyaksandr Tarenenko, director of Khlibni Investizii, the company that owns the two facilities, said the attack was a war crime as Russian forces attacked civilian infrastructure.

A missile shot down by Ukraine’s air defense forces can still be seen outside the building.

Its rebuilding can be time-consuming and expensive, and in the meantime, the factory’s 140 workers are unemployed.

But in Tsar-Khlib, activity is increasing as Kiev residents return to the city. Demand “is growing every week,” Tarenenko said.

The IMF (International Monetary Fund) estimates that Ukraine’s economy will shrink by 35% this year, but parts of the country are slowly recovering despite the ongoing conflict in the south and east.

In and around Kiev, consumer demand is increasing, connections are being restored, Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko told AFP.

According to Marchenko, the very return of foreign embassies was sending a signal to the public that the capital is open for business and residents are returning to relaunch their economic activities.

Even in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, whose vicinity is still being bombed by Russian forces, there are signs of some recovery.

The popular Café Crystal, in a central park, reopened its doors in late April after two months, although the menu is limited and the staff, which was 30 to 40 people before the war, has been reduced to seven or eight.

“We have to keep the jobs. The city is gradually recovering. People want to go out and have a coffee. After being in bomb shelters, they want to live a little,” said Alyona Kostrova, the manager.

In Tsar-Khlib, production rose to 50 tonnes a day and Paliy said he at least felt some comfort in “feeling useful in these difficult times”.

“It’s not that I want a medal, but we did our job, we helped people,” he said. “And we will continue to do so.”

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