War veterans’ pizzeria in Kyiv hosts lunch for Kuleba, Blinken

Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a working lunch downtown Kyiv at Veterano Pizza, a catering establishment launched by Ukraine’s war veterans.

That’s according to the BBC, Ukrinform reports.

Kuleba and Blinken “made their way into a small pizza restaurant - ‘Veterano Pizza’ - in central Kyiv”.

The restaurant, which features a glass table top filled with empty bullet casings, was opened by a Ukrainian Army veteran, Leonid Ostaltsev, who served in the Donbas in 2014 as part of the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade, the report adds.

He staffs the pizzeria with Ukrainian military veterans who regularly deliver free pizza to hospitals where veterans undergo treatment, the BBC wrote.

As Ukrinform reported, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday arrived on a surprise visit to Kyiv to demonstrate U.S. solidarity with Ukraine in the face of massive Russian strikes and an ongoing onslaught in the country’s east.

At the meeting with Blinken, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the need for two additional Patriot air defense systems to protect Kharkiv and the region, and said he wanted to discuss the security agreement and the upcoming Peace Summit in Switzerland.

The Secretary of State, in turn, said a strong, successful, prosperous, free Ukraine is the best possible rebuke to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and the United States, along with many other partners, is determined to ensure Ukraine's battlefield success.