Ukrainian Brewery Goes From Making Beer To Petrol Bombs

In the effort to fight against Russian forces who invaded the country

Until last week, the Pravda brewery in Ukraine’s Lviv was engaged, as its name suggests, in brewing the beer. But since Russia invaded the country on Thursday, the establishment has quickly switched to making Molotov cocktails in an effort to aid Ukrainian fighters in the war.

A Molotov cocktail is a breakable glass bottle containing a flammable substance such as petrol or alcohol and usually a source of ignition such as a burning cloth wick in it. It is a bottle-based improvised incendiary weapon.

Hard at work, one smiling and courageous employee explained the process, “You have to wait for the cloth to be well soaked. When it is, it means the Molotov cocktail is now ready.”

A few dozen Molotov cocktails were already prepared and ready for use, lying on tables in the brewery in western Ukraine’s main city Lviv.

The brewery began producing cocktails for the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces which is made up of reservists who responded to President Volodymyr Zelensky's call to take up arms on Saturday. At checkpoints on the outskirts of the city, police and soldiers are already equipped with them.

Lviv is located near the Polish border and currently lives in fear of Russian tanks rolling in at any moment in their capital.