BORODYANKA, Ukraine: In a truck parked in the Kyiv region, Loic Nervi kneaded the dough vigorously before sliding dozens of tins into the oven — loaves that will later be handed out to Ukrainians.
By making bread, the French volunteer, who calls himself a “baker without borders,” wants to help them through an especially cold winter, marked by repeated power and heating cuts caused by Russian strikes.
Loic works alone and starts early, but he still manages to bake around 700 loaves a day, making locals flock in lines before his white truck.
“I knew there were problems with electricity and heating in Kyiv. It’s the first time I’ve come here and worked here in the Kyiv region and in Kyiv itself,” explained the volunteer, who already did a few missions in Ukraine.
Throughout these trips, he distributed tens of thousands of loaves since the start of the war in 2022, mostly to elderly people who have no support from their families or from the state, Nervi said.
“It’s important to keep supporting (Ukrainians),” the Frenchman told AFP, while admitting that “most French people no longer want to — they’re tired and don’t want to hear about this war anymore.”
“But no, the war is still ongoing,” said the strong-armed baker, sporting a short bristle of beard.
Working in his truck powered by two generators, he makes two main types of bread: a multigrain loaf with sunflower, sesame, poppy and flax seeds, designed to be filling and nutritious, and a soft white sandwich-style bread made with milk, sugar and eggs.
“I travel frequently — so I also leave my family behind, and it’s very hard for them. It’s a sacrifice I make for Ukraine, a personal and family sacrifice,” said Loic.
“But I think it’s worth it, because if everyone only thinks about their own comfort, we won’t move forward,” he added.
Moscow has in recent months conducted a series of massive drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, causing extensive power, water and heating outages.
The attacks, which especially targeted the capital Kyiv, come at a moment of particularly biting temperatures in Ukraine, which have dropped to as low as -20C throughout winter.
Ukraine, for its part, targeted power infrastructure in the Russian border regions and oil refineries across the country.
![]()
![]()
French volunteer bakes for Ukraine amid frosts and power outages
Short Url
https://arab.news/bcjgd
French volunteer bakes for Ukraine amid frosts and power outages
- The French volunteer, who calls himself a “baker without borders,” wants to help them through an especially cold winter
- Loic works alone and starts early, but he still manages to bake around 700 loaves a day
Germany’s Merz visits China AI hub hoping for business deals
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in the Chinese tech hub of Hangzhou on Thursday hoping to land new contracts a day after meeting President Xi
HANGZHOU: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in the Chinese tech hub of Hangzhou on Thursday with a large group of entrepreneurs, hoping to land new contracts a day after meeting President Xi Jinping and announcing an Airbus deal.
Merz’s first official visit to China comes as Berlin and Beijing seek to build on decades-old economic ties to weather global uncertainty sparked by US President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz and erratic foreign policies.
China, the world’s number two economy, overtook the United States last year to become Germany’s biggest trade partner. At the same time, Berlin regards the Communist Party-run state as a systemic rival to the West.
The German leader is accompanied in China by a large delegation of business leaders, including executives of auto giants Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes.
Merz visited a Mercedes plant in Beijing on Thursday morning, where he was shown a demonstration of self-driving vehicles.
He then traveled to Hangzhou, where he is set to visit the sites of Germany’s Siemens Energy and Chinese humanoid robot-maker Unitree.
The eastern city is home to several other major Chinese tech companies like AI unicorn DeepSeek and e-commerce giant Alibaba.
European business leaders, who broadly complain China is flooding the EU market with cheap goods, have urged Merz to keep a cavernous trade imbalance at the top of his agenda.
Germany’s trade deficit with China hit a record 89 billion euros ($105 billion) last year.
- ‘New levels’ -
Following talks with Xi and top Chinese leaders in the capital on Wednesday, Merz said that China had agreed to purchase up to 120 Airbus aircraft, adding that it “demonstrates how worthwhile such trips can be.”
Other contracts were in the pipeline, Merz added.
The two leaders stressed their commitment to developing closer strategic relations, with Xi telling Merz he was willing to take relations to “new levels.”
Merz said he had also touched on the sensitive topic of Taiwan, the self-ruled island China claims as its territory and which it has not ruled out the use of force to annex.
Any “reunification” must be done peacefully, Merz said.
He also discussed the Ukraine war with Xi, who, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, said diplomacy was “key to the issue.”
Merz is the latest in a string of Western leaders to court Beijing recently.
He follows Britain’s Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Canada’s Mark Carney, as they recoil from the mercurial policies of Trump, who is also expected to visit from March 31.
Merz’s first official visit to China comes as Berlin and Beijing seek to build on decades-old economic ties to weather global uncertainty sparked by US President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz and erratic foreign policies.
China, the world’s number two economy, overtook the United States last year to become Germany’s biggest trade partner. At the same time, Berlin regards the Communist Party-run state as a systemic rival to the West.
The German leader is accompanied in China by a large delegation of business leaders, including executives of auto giants Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes.
Merz visited a Mercedes plant in Beijing on Thursday morning, where he was shown a demonstration of self-driving vehicles.
He then traveled to Hangzhou, where he is set to visit the sites of Germany’s Siemens Energy and Chinese humanoid robot-maker Unitree.
The eastern city is home to several other major Chinese tech companies like AI unicorn DeepSeek and e-commerce giant Alibaba.
European business leaders, who broadly complain China is flooding the EU market with cheap goods, have urged Merz to keep a cavernous trade imbalance at the top of his agenda.
Germany’s trade deficit with China hit a record 89 billion euros ($105 billion) last year.
- ‘New levels’ -
Following talks with Xi and top Chinese leaders in the capital on Wednesday, Merz said that China had agreed to purchase up to 120 Airbus aircraft, adding that it “demonstrates how worthwhile such trips can be.”
Other contracts were in the pipeline, Merz added.
The two leaders stressed their commitment to developing closer strategic relations, with Xi telling Merz he was willing to take relations to “new levels.”
Merz said he had also touched on the sensitive topic of Taiwan, the self-ruled island China claims as its territory and which it has not ruled out the use of force to annex.
Any “reunification” must be done peacefully, Merz said.
He also discussed the Ukraine war with Xi, who, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, said diplomacy was “key to the issue.”
Merz is the latest in a string of Western leaders to court Beijing recently.
He follows Britain’s Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Canada’s Mark Carney, as they recoil from the mercurial policies of Trump, who is also expected to visit from March 31.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.