Denver Post: After fleeing war in Ukraine, couple operates thriving local food truck business

Denver Post, The Know | John Meyer | July 29, 2026

Kostiantyn Mukhin and Eugenia Karkina didn’t want to leave Ukraine in 2022, three months after Russia launched a brutal, full-scale invasion of its neighbor, shocking the rest of the world.

Their hearts were torn. Fleeing meant leaving their parents behind in a war zone where they were awakened daily by gunfire and bombardment. But they also had their 5-year-old daughter to think about. They did it for Sofiia.

Today, the pair operates a thriving food truck business based in Arvada, Sunflower Ukrainian Foods. They come from a region in Ukraine known for prolific fields of sunflowers, so the name is a bittersweet reminder of home. “It’s like good memories,” Mukhin said, proudly showing a photo of a massive sunflower field on his phone. “When you drive around, they are everywhere.”

The beauty of that scene is all the more poignant given the ongoing tragedy of the war. Mukhin’s father died recently due to a lack of life-saving medical care.

Read the full article at The Denver Post.