• A Romanian restaurant near the border with Ukraine serves free meals to refugees.
• The boss told Insider that she is doing her best to help those in need during extremely difficult times.
• She added that the “heartbreaking” crisis has brought her staff to tears with the customers they serve.

The owner of a Romanian restaurant near the border with Ukraine is serving free meals to Ukrainians fleeing the country after an unprovoked Russian invasion.

Andreea Cristea, the owner of The Folly restaurant in the city of Galati, told Insider she was trying to do her part to help in a crisis that has led to the bloodshed of many innocent civilians.

When serving Ukrainian refugees, Cristea said her staff cried with them in a “heartbreaking” situation. “It’s a real drama,” she added.

“A group of four people, in their twenties, who left their parents at home, were crying all the time,” she continued.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since the attack, Western nations have teamed up to punish Russia for the invasion, through the use of restrictive economic measures, which have brought down the country’s economy.

According to the British government, the sanctions that hammer Russia could last ten years.

The invasion was not only criticized by the West but also by advisers to the Kremlin itself. Andrey Kortunov, a member of a group of foreign policy experts advising the Kremlin, told Sky News he was “shocked” by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to Cristea, Ukrainian refugees have recently started entering Romania in “large numbers” to flee Russian forces. “Most Ukrainian citizens arriving in Galati are women and children,” she added.

“No man between 18 and 55 is allowed to leave the country,” Cristea said.

At The Folly, Cristea said she can serve up to 100 meals a day indefinitely for those in need. A few days ago, she said the restaurant had around 40 people waiting to be served on site.

“Being a nation that experienced Soviet domination for 45 years, Romanians are obviously outraged by what is happening in Ukraine,” Cristea said.

In addition to providing free meals to Ukrainian refugees, Cristea said she organized a donation of cans, bottled water and wrapped candies for them. These efforts have been accompanied by “hundreds or thousands of such activities” across Romania, she added.

“There are many who do more, especially in northern Romania, where most Ukrainians have arrived,” Cristea said.

Despite the attack, Cristea continues to defy that Ukrainians “will not remain under Russian rule”.

“They are free people,” she said.