Apart from a broken bus and some abrasions, fries bakers Franky and Coen returned in one piece from Ukraine. And they now also realize that this can be called a miracle. The two barely survived a rocket hit, next to the restaurant where they were eating. But that doesn’t stop them from continuing their mission. “We’ll have the bus repaired and then go back,” says Franky.
He has the shards of the smashed rocket in his hand. He found it on the street in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk just after the huge explosion. “You can even smell the gunpowder,” he says. “It was a matter of bad luck or luck. And we have been very lucky.”
“The ceiling of our restaurant has remained intact, while it has collapsed everywhere.”
Twelve people were killed and dozens injured in the rocket impact. The men from Waspik had only scratches. And their bus got damaged. “It’s unbelievable that we survived,” says Franky. Their luck was that the doors at the back of the restaurant were open, allowing much of the air pressure to escape into an empty storefront. “As a result, the ceiling remained intact, while it collapsed everywhere else.”
Franky and Coen have been driving up and down to Ukraine for over a year to bake fries for the victims of the war. The first times they stopped at the border, then they went further east. And the last time they baked in the middle of the war zone. Wearing bulletproof vests and helmets.
“We have to guarantee more safety for ourselves.”
Although the home front would rather not see the men leave, they will soon return. “Immediately after the impact I thought for a moment: never again,” says Coen. “But two, three hours later I realized that this happens every day to those Ukrainians. We must continue to support them.”
“We’ll be heading that way again in a month or two,” says Franky. “Recover first. Then fix the bus. And then see what we’re going to do. Because we have to guarantee more safety for ourselves.”
The two see it as their mission to keep baking until the war is over. “It’s not about the fries, because after a few hours they’re hungry again,” says Coen. “They draw strength from the fact that we stand behind them. Some even shed a tear because we come there from the Netherlands. That is a fantastic feeling.”
READ ALSO: French fries bakers had to run for their lives after rocket attack: ‘It was chaos’