The humanitarian mission "FoodTruck: Food Without Borders" continues. Since the beginning of 2026, the food truck team has prepared and distributed more than 620,000 hot meals to people in the Kyiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions.

As we have previously reported, the Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattya began this year’s collaboration with the NGO "Iskra Dobra"—the initiator of the food mission—with a visit to Brovary in the Kyiv region, where food truck chefs served meals to local residents. It was a difficult time for the densely populated capital region, where tens of thousands of residents were left without electricity and heat as a result of russian strikes on critical infrastructure.

"It was a challenge for our entire team, because it wasn’t just the people who were enduring the bitter cold—our food truck was too. There was no electricity; everything ran on generators, and the diesel fuel was freezing… We would start working at 5 a.m. just to get the equipment running, and then a marathon that was hellish in every sense of the word would begin. We cooked borscht over a wood fire and made daily trips to remote areas to support vulnerable populations. Later, we set up another kitchen based out of a school in Kyiv, where we streamlined our processes and served meals directly to people. I remember the first visitors showing up on the very day we opened—word spread instantly, and the need for help was glaringly obvious. People told us it was their first hot meal in several days, since they simply didn’t have the means to cook anything at home," says Ihor Kukobko, head of the NGO "Iskra Dobra" and one of the chefs at the mobile kitchen. 

Since the beginning of 2026, the Charitable Organization "Charity Fund "Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattya", together with its partners, has donated a high-capacity generator and power stations to support the food mission, assisted with the purchase of a generator trailer, and provided financial support for an important social project. We thank our partners—the Swiss Association "Parasolka", the Association SAFE, and the organization Comité d'aide médicale Ukraine from France—for their effective cooperation and its tangible impact on helping the population affected by the russian-Ukrainian war. 

Even though the food truck moved to a new location long ago, we look back on the situation in the Kyiv region once again, as it provided invaluable experience both for the chefs and volunteers on the ground, and for the project partners.

"We worked 16–18 hours a day, feeding residents of several districts in the Kyiv region and providing hot meals to energy sector workers, rescuers, and other specialists who were working around the clock to restore damaged critical infrastructure. The high-rises with dark windows gave us a special sense of the situation; behind each one were people unable to handle basic daily tasks—like making lunch for their children or keeping warm in those bitterly cold temperatures. When the situation in the Kyiv region stabilized a bit, we moved to Sumy. They were really waiting for us there," recalls Oleh Bibikov, the food truck's chef.

Indeed, this year the food truck returned twice—to Sumy and to the town of Derhachi in the Kharkiv region, where the mission began last year. Both communities continue to take in evacuees from the frontline border areas, serving as temporary homes for some of them. The key beneficiaries of the project are internally displaced persons, the elderly, large families, clients of social service centers, and patients at local hospitals. In total, during this period, the mobile kitchen has distributed over 620,000 meals.

The food truck is currently operating in the Kharkiv region. At the same time, preparations are underway to launch a second mobile kitchen (we can finally announce this!). Scaling up the project was a pressing need given the situation on the front lines—the enemy ignores any peace initiatives and continues to destroy the energy sector, social infrastructure, and, in general, all aspects of normal life. That is why we continue our joint efforts, convinced that a serving of hot food is a source of warmth that restores a sense of home and hope even where war rages.

Currently, the consortium supporting the humanitarian project "FoodTruck: Food Without Borders" brings together the Charitable Foundation "MHP-Hromadi", Monobank, 1+1 media, CAMZ, Ukrainian Food Banks Federation, the NGO "Life Quality" Fund, the NGO "Dobrobat", the Yevgen Pyvovarov’s Charity Fund, Biosphere Corporation, ISAIA Ukraine, Agrotep LLC, and other philanthropists and patrons.