Ukraine war: Ukrainian ‘boy on the bridge’ turned army cook dreams of becoming professional chef
We’d been worrying about Serhiy Petrushenko, a 21-year-old boy we met guarding a bridge in central Kyiv completely on his own on the second day of the war.
He became an overnight sensation after our report, the interview was watched well over 50 million times on social media alone.
When we spoke to him his fear was honest, visceral and compelling, and his concern for his family – whose village was already surrounded by Russian soldiers – was so vivid, even on film.
We’ve been thinking about him ever since.
Like so many people at the time, Serhiy thought that the Russians were coming, and he was going to die.
Within hours of our broadcast Sky News was inundated with people asking for more information.
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And those messages of concern for the boy on the bridge, as we know him, continue today. So we asked the Ukrainian military if they could confirm he was alive and help us find him.
It took them over two months to track him down. To be fair, it’s a tough ask in the chaos of war, but they did at least confirm he was alive.
This week I met Serhiy again, he’s working as an army cook. We shook hands and later hugged.
To this day he can’t really believe how he has become so well known, how hundreds of people still write to him every day, and how he has invitations to visit them after the war… from Finland to Hawaii.
“Hundreds of people, hundreds of people on social media text me every day. Every day they ask me about my family, how I am doing,” he told me.
“I tried to reply to all the messages individually but in the end I just couldn’t.”
We met in a field kitchen next to the woods in the Kyiv region as he was preparing lunch for soldiers training for battle.
“The first time we met, I was not cooking at that time, but a few months ago, I came to where I belong, to the kitchen. And, for months I’ve been cooking for my soldiers in many places.”
It’s an unheralded job but incredibly important – soldiers can’t fight if they are hungry.
It’s also inspired him to dream. After the war Serhiy wants to travel to Italy, sample the cuisine, and maybe even train to be a professional chef.
He says he has grown up quickly over the last 12 months. “I feel older, and I look older since you met me,” he said smiling and laughing.
We met at the start of the war by chance, to be honest.
On a whim we decided to film the many bridges that cross into the heart of Kyiv, and the pedestrian bridge we spotted as we drove by was perfect.
With his rifle in his arms, Serhiy walked towards us to ask us what we were doing. We explained and he said we could film but that he had to stay and watch us.
He was a nice kid, and as we finished filming, I asked without any expectation of agreement if we could interview him.
We didn’t speak for long, but his story resonated with people around the world.
He seemed somewhat bemused as to what use he could actually be as he had only fired 16 rounds in his life.
That number is now between 50 and 60, he says. But he prefers cooking.
Serhiy’s home village in the Sumy region was liberated by the Ukrainian forces after being taken by Russia, and he says his parents and grandparents are all well.
Serhiy Petrushenko speaking to his mother Lyudmyla Petrushenko
“I’m lucky that my family’s fine. My relatives, my friends, they are fine. But when they occupied my village, some people got hurt, some people were killed.”
Like many here, he is convinced Ukraine will win.
“People are very determined to defend the country… we will eventually push them [Russia] back to their borders, maybe even forward. Yeah, they will not win.”
In truth I never thought Serhiy was really cut out for fighting and frankly, nor did he.
But he’s not scared anymore and says he will keep feeding “his boys”, as he calls the soldiers.
The boy on the bridge is a man now.
World
Kilmar Abrego Garcia: Man wrongly deported from US to El Salvador has been returned to face criminal charges
A man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration has been returned to the US to face criminal charges.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was charged in an indictment filed in federal court in Tennessee with conspiring to transport illegal immigrants into the US, attorney general Pam Bondi said on Friday.
Court records have shown the indictment was filed on 21 May, more than two months after he was deported from the US under a controversial 18th-century wartime law.
US attorney general Pam Bondi, alongside her deputy Todd Blanche, outlined the charges at a news conference. Pic: AP
In a statement, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer Andrew Rossman said it would now be up to the US judicial system to ensure he received due process.
“Today’s action proves what we’ve known all along – that the administration had the ability to bring him back and just refused to do so,” he said.
Salvadoran Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported from Maryland despite an immigration judge’s 2019 order granting him protection after finding he was likely to be persecuted by local gangs if he was returned to his native country.
The indictment alleges Abrego Garcia worked with at least five co-conspirators to bring immigrants to the US illegally and transport them from the border to other destinations in the country.
On Friday, Ms Bondi outlined the charges at a news conference, saying: “The grand jury found that over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring.
“He made over 100 trips, the grand jury found – smuggling people throughout our country… MS-13 [international criminal gang] members, violent gang terrorist organisation members… throughout our country.
“He will be prosecuted in our country, sentenced in our country if convicted and then returned after completion of his sentence.”
Ms Bondi said Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele agreed to return Abrego Garcia to the US after American officials presented his government with an arrest warrant.
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Chris Van Hollen (R) speaks to Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Pic: Press Office Senator Van Hollen/AP
Democrat senator Chris Van Hollen travelled to El Salvador in April to meet Abrego Garcia, arguing his constitutional rights to due process were being ignored.
Critics of Donald Trump have pointed to the deportation of Abrego Garcia as an example of the excesses of the Republican president’s aggressive immigration policies.
US District Judge Paula Xinis has opened a probe into what, if anything, Mr Trump’s administration has done to secure his return, after his lawyers accused officials of stonewalling their requests for information.
Jennifer Vasquez Sura (R) filed a legal complaint over the deportation of her husband. Pic: AP
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Officials responded by alleging that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang – something his lawyers have strongly denied.
In a separate statement, Pam Bondi also attacked what she called the “Fake News Media” and repeated the – yet unproven – allegations against Abrego Garcia.
“The Justice Department’s Grand Jury Indictment against Abrego Garcia proves the unhinged Democrat Party was wrong, and their stenographers in the Fake News Media were once again played like fools.
“Abrego Garcia was never an innocent ‘Maryland Man’- Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien terrorist, gang member, and human trafficker who has spent his entire life abusing innocent people, especially women and the most vulnerable.”
Senior White House officials will meet with a Chinese delegation in London on Monday for the next round of trade talks, US President Donald Trump has said.
The meeting comes after a phone call between Mr Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, which the US president said was “very positive” – lasting about an hour and a half.
Speaking to reporters on Friday from Air Force One, the president added that it was a “good talk”, describing the deal as “complicated”, but one that “will bring us a lot of money”.
He also said: “I get along well with Xi and China.”
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US and China reach agreement on tariffs
Writing on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said the upcoming London meeting “should go very well” and added that treasury secretary Scott Bessent, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and trade representative Jamieson Greer would represent the US at the talks.
It is unclear who will represent China.
The two countries are at an impasse over tariffs and a dispute involving critical rare earth mineral exports, in which China remains the dominant producer.
On 12 May, China and the US struck a 90-day deal in Geneva to pause retaliatory tariffs placed on each other since Mr Trump was inaugurated in January.
The US president said the move was part of a “total reset” in relations.
The agreement prompted a global surge in stock markets and US indexes that were in, or approaching, bear market levels.
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US and China end trade war
The temporary deal saw the US reduce its 145% tariff to 30% on Chinese goods.
China also agreed to reduce its 125% retaliatory tariffs to 10% on US goods.
However, sector-specific tariffs, such as the 25% tax on cars, aluminium and steel, are still in place.
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The Chinese foreign ministry said the US president initiated the call, and they had asked him to “remove the negative measures” in place against China.
It also said that Mr Trump said “the US loves to have Chinese students coming to study in America”.
This is despite his administration previously saying it will “aggressively” revoke the visas of Chinese students studying in the US.
Since Mr Trump’s re-election, the president has frequently issued threats of punitive trade measures against US partners, only to backtrack at the last minute.
World
Gaza marks start of Eid with outdoor prayers in rubble – as Israel warns of intensive new military operations
Israel has issued a fresh warning to civilians in northern Gaza, saying its military is about to carry out intensive operations there.
It comes after Israel said rockets were fired from the area.
Palestinians across the war-ravaged Gaza Strip have marked the start of one of Islam’s most important holidays, amid little hope the conflict will end any time soon.
Much of Gaza lies in ruins, with men and children forced to hold the traditional Eid al Adha prayers in the open air, and as food supplies dwindle.
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Food and aid were blocked from entering the Palestinian territory for more than two months, but a trickle of supplies has been allowed in over the last few weeks.
The UN said it cannot distribute much of the aid, due to the risk of looters and restrictions on movement.
“This is the worst feast that the Palestinian people have experienced because of the unjust war against the Palestinian people,” said Kamel Emran after attending prayers in the southern city of Khan Younis.
“There is no food, no flour, no shelter, no mosques, no homes, no mattresses… The conditions are very, very harsh.”
The Islamic holiday begins on the 10th day of the Islamic lunar month of Dhul-Hijja, during the Hajj season in Saudi Arabia.
It is the second year Muslims in Gaza have been unable to travel to the country to perform the traditional pilgrimage.
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Israel confirms arming gangs to combat Hamas
The war broke out after the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants. Some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others were abducted and taken to Gaza.
Hamas is still holding 56 hostages, with a third of them believed to be alive. The rest have been released in ceasefire agreements, with forces rescuing eight living hostages from Gaza and recovering dozens of bodies.
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Situation in Gaza ‘utterly intolerable’
Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in its military campaign, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians or combatants in its figures.
Around 90% of the population of two million has been displaced.
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