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Ukrainian brewery joins war effort, switches from beer to Molotov cocktails

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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A brewery in Ukraine has gone from making beer to producing Molotov cocktails to help its city defend itself against Russian aggression.

Ukraine has been urging citizens who are ready to defend the country to take up arms and fight against Russian forces.


President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the government would hand out weapons to those willing to take up arms, and Ukranian TV posted instructions for how to make Molotov cocktails, incendiary weapons made by pouring a flammable liquid into a glass bottle.

“We urge citizens to inform us of troop movements, to make Molotov cocktails, and neutralise the enemy,” Ukraine’s defense ministry said on Facebook, according to reports.

The Pravda brewery in Lviv answered the call to arms by changing up its production line, AFP reported.

Business owner Yuriy Zastavny said the brewery began producing Molotov cocktails at the suggestion of an employee who took part in Kyiv’s pro-Western uprising in 2014.

“We do this because someone has to. We have the skills, we went through a street revolution in 2014. We had to make and use Molotov cocktails then,” Zastavny said.

He vowed to do “everything we can to help win this war.”

One of the brewery’s favorite beers is called “Putin khuylo,” a direct insult to Putin, according to AFP, which means ‘Putin is a jerk.’ in Ukrainian, according to Google Translate.