Food outlets feed ATO troops

KYIV – The nationwide campaign Feed a Warrior has been initiated by the civic organization Anti-Terrorist Operation Veterans’ Union. According to organizers, Ukrainian troops are being demobilized, taking leaves of short duration and returning with injuries to undergo further treatment on non-combatant territory. Mariya Burdun, campaign organizer and board member of the NGO Svat, held a presentation of the Feed a Warrior campaign at Ukraine Crisis Media Center on August 10. Ms. Burdun said that ex-servicemen face numerous issues, such as how to get home, where to find funds for the trip and, above all, where to eat and at whose expense. “It was exactly this problem that gave birth to the Feed a Warrior campaign. Any serviceman can now get free meals at special food outlets. His military rank is not important, and it doesn’t matter whether he was drafted or is a volunteer soldier,” said Ms. Burdun. Any food outlet can become a campaign participant. “A serviceman is to present any document proving his ATO participation in order to get a free meal or drink. It may be a reference from his commanding officer, a certificate of leave or treatment, or any other document,” she explained, adding that if a serviceman has no documents or certificates to prove his ATO participation, he can get free meals through a card provided by Svat. “This card contains no identifying information of the serviceman. Nevertheless, it contains a code identifying all the information on the cardholder: regiment, period of stay in the ATO zone, military ranks, etc.,” said Ms. Burdun. Over 20 food outlets from Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Chervonohrad currently participate in the campaign, but the program aims to expand to Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv. (Ukraine Crisis Media Center)