While Russia continues to attack Ukraine, Ukrainians are fleeing the country due to the conflict. To avoid bombardment, many people who remained in the country sought refuge in bunkers or subway stations. While many benefactors assist citizens who are unable to meet their basic food needs as a result of the attacks in Ukraine, Onur Hekim, a Turkish businessman who distributes free meals to those in need in his Kyiv restaurant, is one of them. “It was not right for me to leave because I have lived here for 20 years,” said Turkish businessman Onur Hekim, who distributes free food in his restaurant in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. “I was at home when the curfew started, and I thought It wasn’t right for me to leave here because I’ve been living here for 20 years. In a way, I can say that I grew up in Ukraine. Everything I have now, I earned here. I stepped on this land, breathed the air of this place and grew up with these people. I never felt like a foreigner, they didn’t make me feel that way. Regardless, I shouldn’t have left here until the last moment. My idea of not leaving the country was not to stay here for adventure, but to help the people I grew up with. I am trying to do my best. That’s all we can do. I drew all the products and stocks left in the kitchens of the restaurants I owned and invited volunteers with the ability to cook to my restaurant by making a call from my social media accounts. It was a huge hit. But we were able to choose 15 people out of them because there is a transportation problem in the city. We started to make these donations as of February 28. Currently, we started by preparing 500-600 portions of food mainly for the first 6 days. In the last 7 days, we continue to cook with our volunteer friends here, wandering around the city and buying all the products we can find in the markets with our own means. We reached 700-800 people in the last 7 days,” he said.
Hekim intends to remain in Kyiv and assist those in need until the conflict is resolved.