KOSTIANTYNIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — Seemingly abandoned during the day, the damaged factory building in eastern Ukraine comes alive at night, when the smell of fresh bread wafts through its shattered windows.
It is one of two large-scale bakeries still in operation in the Ukrainian part of the Donetsk region, most of which is under Russian occupation. The others had to close because they were damaged by the fighting or because their electricity and gas were cut off.
The Kostiantynivka bakery adapted its working hours to the rhythm of the war.
Factory workers come to work at 7 p.m. to start kneading the dough. At dawn, truckers arrive to pick up fresh breads to deliver to towns and villages where grocery stores are usually only open in the morning when, most of the time, there is a lull in Russian bombardment.
“We bake more bread at night so that we can distribute it to stores in the morning,” says bakery manager Oleksandr Milov.
Nikita, one of three men working a 12-hour night shift, loads coal into a boiler at a bakery in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Monday August 15, 2022 Since the bakery lost its gas supply, it has been reconfigured to run on coal, a system that had not been used at this factory since World War II. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/David Goldman
Kostya, one of three men working a 12-hour night shift, loads coal into a boiler at a bakery in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Monday August 15, 2022 The bakery is one of the two remaining large bakeries in operation in the Donetsk region. The others had to close because they were damaged by the fighting or because their electricity and gas were cut off. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/David Goldman
Discarded charcoal burns in a heap after being used to heat the boilers of a bakery in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. The bakery tried six types of coal before finding the right type with high heat output. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/David Goldman
Kostya, one of three men working a 12-hour night shift, shovels coal to heat the boilers of a bakery in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on Monday August 15 2022. One of the advantages of the coal system is that the plant will not need additional heating in winter. There will be no central heating in the area this winter due to lack of gas. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/David Goldman
A truck leaves a bakery at dawn in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022. The bakery has adapted its working hours to the rhythm of the war. The employees come to work at 7 p.m. to start kneading the dough. At dawn, truckers arrive to pick up fresh breads to deliver to towns and villages where grocery stores are usually only open in the morning when, most of the time, there is a lull in Russian bombardment. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/David Goldman
Svitlana Labutcheva, hand cuts labels for wrapping loaves of bread at a bakery in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, August 20, 2022. Seemingly abandoned during the day, the building of the damaged factory in eastern Ukraine comes to life at night, when the smell of fresh bread wafts through its shattered windows. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/David Goldman
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The factory bakes about seven tons of bread a day, or about 17,500 loaves. Half goes to the Ukrainian army.
Olha Zhovtonozhyk, a woman in her thirties, picks up round loaves from the conveyor belt and quickly places them into baking pans. She takes her job very seriously.
“Ukrainian Armed Forces are our heroes now, but our work is also important for the life of our country, in times of war,” Zhovtonozhyk said.
Another employee, Olena Nahorna, 48, agrees.
“We are not afraid. We are baking bread, because the people, our military, our defenders, need bread,” Nahorna said with a smile, moving the dough to the oven.
Another factory in Druzhkivka is still operational, producing buns, breads and cookies.
But the Kostiantynivka and Druzhkivka bakeries are not making enough bread for the approximately 300,000 people who remain in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk region. In the south of the region, entrepreneurs bring in bread from neighboring Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, and some supermarkets have small bakeries.
Kostiantynivka bakery has remained open despite many challenges. In April, it lost its gas supply, but the kilns were reconfigured to run on coal – a system that had not been used at this plant since World War II. The coal boiler is operated by three men.
“It’s such a colossal job; the guys work 12 hours a day,” says Milov.
Milov tried six types of coal before finding the right type with high heat output. One of the advantages of the coal system is that the plant will not need additional heating in the winter. There will be no central heating in the area this winter due to the lack of gas.
The bakery encountered its next problem in June, when Russia occupied the town of Lyman in the north of the region where the mill that supplied flour to the Kostiantynivka bakery was located. Milov had to buy flour from a supplier in the Zaporizhzhia region, 150 kilometers (about 90 miles) from Kostiantynivka.
The additional transport costs increased the price of bread. The same goes for the inflation rate, which is around 20% in Ukraine.
“People’s income has gone down, and people are just buying cheaper products right now,” says Milov. Its bakers even had to change their bread recipe to keep the price affordable as long as possible.
Another concern is the grain shortage. In 2021, the harvest in Ukraine exceeded 100 million tons of grain. The new crop, according to preliminary estimates of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy, is 65-67 million tons. Since Russia attacked not only the fields, but also the grain warehouses, some farmers are exporting grain to store it abroad.
The Kostiantynivka bakery has 20 drivers who deliver bread daily, not only to cities, but also to half-empty frontline villages.
One of them, Vasyl Moiseienko, a pensioner, arrives in his car at the factory at 6 a.m. and fills it with still warm bread. It shows the crack in the windshield left by shrapnel a few weeks ago during a bread delivery.
“Who else will go?” I’m old, so I could drive,” Moiseienko said.
He drives on bad roads to the village of Dyliivka, 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the line of contact. The driver quickly unloads the bread and heads for another town on the front line.
About 100 people live in Dyliivka, but the village seems empty. Every 10 to 15 minutes, sounds of artillery are heard. It’s hard to find a cellular connection in the area, but the data network works. The local store clerk writes in the village Viber chat that bread has been brought. And in 15 minutes, the store fills with people.
Liubov Lytvynova, 76, takes several loaves of bread. She says to dry some of it to make breadcrumbs that she keeps in her cellar. She puts a loaf in the freezer to keep it longer.
“We only live in fear. And if they don’t deliver bread, what are we going to do? said Lytvynova.
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