KYIV -- A pizza place in Ukraine’s capital held an unusual promotion earlier this month: Buy a gun, get a free pie.
Get a free medium or large pizza pie, that is -- eat-in only -- if you can show you purchased a firearm or received a gun permit in January.
The three-day offer was available at a central Kyiv franchise of nationwide chain Pizza Veterano -- a name that reflects the fact that the chain's owner, Leonid Ostaltsev, is a veteran of the nearly eight-year war against Kremlin-backed separatists in the eastern region known as the Donbas.
The promotion, Ostaltsev said, was a gesture of gratitude to Ukrainians who have bought or registered guns at a tense time when Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops near its border with their country, igniting fears that Moscow could launch a major new offensive.
It also played into a growing discussion of gun ownership -- stoked by civilian training programs, the creation of regional defense units that would seek to defend the country against a large-scale attack, and other preparations taking place in the shadow of Moscow’s military buildup.
"I want to thank those citizens who, sensing the danger of the unpredictable movements of [Russia], make the right decisions and become owners of firearms," Ostaltsev wrote on Facebook, using an expletive to describe Ukraine's much larger neighbor.
Get a free medium or large pizza pie, that is -- eat-in only -- if you can show you purchased a firearm or received a gun permit in January.
The three-day offer was available at a central Kyiv franchise of nationwide chain Pizza Veterano -- a name that reflects the fact that the chain's owner, Leonid Ostaltsev, is a veteran of the nearly eight-year war against Kremlin-backed separatists in the eastern region known as the Donbas.
The promotion, Ostaltsev said, was a gesture of gratitude to Ukrainians who have bought or registered guns at a tense time when Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops near its border with their country, igniting fears that Moscow could launch a major new offensive.
It also played into a growing discussion of gun ownership -- stoked by civilian training programs, the creation of regional defense units that would seek to defend the country against a large-scale attack, and other preparations taking place in the shadow of Moscow’s military buildup.
"I want to thank those citizens who, sensing the danger of the unpredictable movements of [Russia], make the right decisions and become owners of firearms," Ostaltsev wrote on Facebook, using an expletive to describe Ukraine's much larger neighbor.
