Japanese man feeds Kharkiv residents for free after sheltering in underground for months
One month after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, 75-year-old Fuminori Tsuchiko made his way to the besieged east Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with a mission to help the Ukrainian people any way he could.
Upon seeing civilians sheltering in a metro station in northern Kharkiv, which was under constant Russian artillery fire, he decided to stay with them underground.
Tsuchiko said he spent a total of seven months between June and December sleeping on the station concourse, where he and many Ukrainians slept, eat and washed their clothes.
During that time, the Japanese national started to distribute food among the metro station's occupants, many of whom had lost their homes in Russian strikes.
In December 2023, he was asked to move out, and he and another volunteer he met underground, whom he calls his "Ukrainian friend," decided to open a free cafe for the war-torn neighbourhood of Saltivka.
Tsuchiko told Reuters he gathered donations from people in his homeland through various social media platforms, allowing him and his friend to open the cafe, which is now being visited by 500 people every day.
Each day, footfall increases.
The Tokyo native and his campaign to help and support Ukrainians quickly made his 'Fumi Caffe' a sensation on Ukrainian social media.
Anna Tovstopyatova said she came to Kharkiv to visit her parents, but couldn't resist paying a visit to the cafe to donate some money.
"It's great that there are so sincere people with an open heart and a soul, who sacrifice their life and time to help and give hope," she said.
Reuters
