Ukrainians criticized former Ukrainian foreign minister Kuleba for urging people to eat at restaurants

Ukrainians criticized former Ukrainian minister Dmytro Kuleba on social media for urging people to eat not at home, but in cafés and restaurants.

Hundreds of people commented on his Facebook post, mostly negatively.

“Please, today have coffee not at home but in a coffee shop, have lunch at a restaurant or buy treats at a kiosk, go to the market, visit a hairdresser, buy something in a small shop or at least order online — support micro-, small, and medium-sized businesses. It is the hardest for them right now,” he wrote.

In response, users called the former minister a hypocrite who is out of touch with reality, and asked him to support business owners with his own money.

There are practically no positive responses under the post. People are outraged by the actions of the authorities and by Kuleba personally:

“So it’s the authorities who are destroying business. Are you all out of your minds?”

“And with what money? People are below the poverty line.”

“First, where do we get extra money? Second, why are you strangling and killing this business?! We have to support both business and ourselves. And what about you (the authorities), don’t you?”

“They say if you steal less, it also helps the economy… no?”

“You shouldn’t choke entrepreneurs with taxes, especially during the war, instead of writing that people should buy coffee in coffee shops. Have you already bought a strap-on in your woman’s shop?”

On the night of January 13, Russian forces carried out a massive strike on energy infrastructure and enterprises connected to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy reported power supply disruptions in Kyiv and a number of regions, including Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Chernihiv, due to damage to energy facilities.

That same day, Kyiv residents spoke about a catastrophic situation with the city’s energy supply: electricity is provided for only two to three hours per day, and heating and water supply work intermittently. According to them, the official outage schedules are not being followed. In the suburbs the situation is even worse: there is almost постоянное lack of electricity, and the difficulties are worsened by snow and strong winds.