ODESA, Ukraine -- For the third straight year, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has severely disrupted Hanna Svertilova's family-owned chain of restaurants in the southern Black Sea resort city of Odesa. Despite the significant challenges, the restaurants remain the family's sole source of revenue and provide Svertilova with some psychological relief during the war.
"We love our city," said Svertilova, the CEO of the two restaurants. "This business is the work of our life; it's our brainchild. It's hard to leave it. It's not like you are just a hired employee."
Gogol By The Sea, a seaside seasonal restaurant, reopened in Odesa in the summer of 2022, just as the city was adjusting to wartime reality. Svertilova recalls patrons rushing to shelters during air raids, often leaving without paying and returning later to settle their bills.
That year, she says, restaurant employees kept working mainly for emotional reasons since maintaining a routine helped distract them from the war. The restaurant was unable to pay wages, so staff received a percentage of the sales.
Officially, there was no summer season in Odesa in 2022, as the beaches were closed due to unexploded ordinance in the sea and the constant fear of saboteurs or a Russian landing.
The following year, the region faced another crisis when Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka Dam on June 6, 2023. This caused flooding and contaminated the Black Sea around Odesa, leading to the closure of the sea for two summer months.
For the 2024 season, the main challenges have included ongoing missile and drone threats, persistent power outages caused by Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, and extremely hot weather. Small businesses like Svertilova's have had to rely on generators, taking on the burden of purchasing and fueling them.
However, this year has also brought relief. The local administration signed a joint order with the commander of the Odesa operational strategic group of forces facilitating public access to the sea. By early August, 19 beaches in the region, most of them in the city, had reopened to the public. Beaches must have nearby air-raid shelters and people must vacate the beaches if suspicious objects are found or air-raid sirens sound.
Local authorities describe the season as more about promoting health and well-being than tourism, aiming to provide some relief for Ukrainian families. Nevertheless, Odesa remains a target for Russian attacks.
'People Are Just Living'
Although situated away from the main beaches and the city center, Gogol By The Sea has felt the effects of the returning tourists in Odesa. The renowned Pryvoz Market has also seen some benefits. The impact isn't as strong as before the full-scale invasion, but it is noticeable.
On a typical Thursday in August, the market is bustling, though not as crowded as it was before the invasion, according to vendors.
Tetyana, who has worked at the market for 20 years specializing in fresh fish and who asked that her surname be withheld, notes that before the invasion her counter featured mainly Black Sea fish. Now, most of the fish she sells comes from nearby estuaries.
With the Black Sea waters along Odesa's coast closed to watercraft, fishing is only possible from the shore, and what was once a market highlight has been replaced by freshwater fish from reservoirs and rivers. The assortment at Pryvoz counters like Tetyana's has also decreased significantly.
Last year, when the Kakhovka Dam was destroyed, Tetyana didn't work for two months and had to rely on her savings.
"We had to cut back a lot," she recalled.
Pylyp Kotets, a Pryvoz vendor who sells mostly smoked fish, has similar memories.
"Last year, I was throwing away all the fish I bought," he said.
This year, with constant power outages, people have been buying fewer fish.
"People would buy a couple of carp and 10 gobies to fry and eat because their refrigerators weren't working," Tetyana said.
She adds that every change in the city at large is reflected at the market -- whether it is solvent people moving away or rising electricity prices.
"People have changed," she said. "They want to live for today because they don't know what tomorrow will bring. Anything can happen, and you might be left without a home. So people aren't saving money. They're just living."
People at the market worry about the future of the war.
"It's hard, but if we give up, the war will return in five or 10 years to our children, like it did in Georgia and other countries. So we have to live and fight," Tetyana said.
Kotets, in turn, says it's impossible to agree with Russia.
"They don't stick to their agreements," he said. "I think we should give them a strong push and then agree on them leaving."
However, as summer progresses, Pryvoz vendors are pleased with the increased tourist traffic at the market.
Half-Empty Or Half-Full
Odesa's central Derybasivska Street, a popular tourist spot, is crowded, though noticeably quieter than it was before the invasion. The formerly festive atmosphere is subdued, and Ukrainians continue debating the appropriateness of entertainment in rear cities given the active front line and the daily casualties of the war.
Despite the increased visitor activity, Svertilova said the atmosphere at their venues is different now.
"Even birthday celebrations have become more family-oriented and cozy," she said. "There used to be large weddings. Now they are smaller and more intimate, with around 15 people."
Svertilova urges a sense of balance and said young people and children need opportunities to enjoy themselves.
"They won't have another life," she said. "They need to meet and socialize."
Odesa's beaches, while still crowded and with loud music blaring from the paid areas, now evoke a more family-resort atmosphere rather than the raucous party vibe found before the full-scale war.
Ksenia Kyryushyna and her friend, who were lounging on the beach one recent afternoon, came to Odesa for a break.
"I'm glad we still have places to rest by the sea," Kyryushyna said. "If you constantly focus on the negative, it's impossible to live normally. You have to find a way to relax."
Kyryushyna noted the widespread destruction around the city, saying she'd seen similar scenes in other areas of the country.
"My parents are still in Kharkiv and haven't left," she said, mentioning the eastern city that has been hit hard by Russian assaults. "I understand how hard it is to leave the city where you grew up and where your family lives."
With the war now in its third year, Ukrainians have generally become accustomed to the sound of explosions, though reactions can vary.
"There were moments when a missile flew right over the sea," Svertilova said. "It felt surreal -- some people were ducking, while others stayed at their table with a glass of wine."
Home To New People
"It's still scary to hear explosions, but we've learned to distinguish what's flying and from where," says Hanna Khomycheva, a manager at Gogol By The Sea.
Khomycheva is among those who left their homes and found refuge in Odesa. According to the International Organization for Migration, as of January 2024, the Odesa region was hosting 167,299 registered internally displaced people.
Khomycheva moved to Odesa in 2014 during Russia's first attempt to seize her home city, the Azov Sea port of Mariupol. Although Mariupol was liberated that year, she chose to stay in Odesa for the sake of her son. When the war reached Odesa in 2022, she decided to remain. Now, she and her son both work at the restaurant.
In 2014, Valeria Vecherikova saw displaced people arriving in her home city of Kherson after Russia occupied Crimea. She never imagined that eight years later she would also have to leave her home.
When Russian forces were approaching Kherson in early 2022, Vecherikova, co-owner of the successful local café called Godshot, stayed put until mid-April.
But once the city was fully occupied, she relocated to Odesa, managing her café remotely and supporting the employees who stayed and other locals.
Vecherikova hoped to return to Kherson after its liberation in November 2022. However, the city faced constant attacks from the left bank of the Dnipro River, which remained under Russian control. Consequently, Vecherikova and her partner decided to move their business to Odesa, dismantling and transporting the equipment under shelling.
They reopened their café in Odesa in May 2023 and are now working to expand their franchise and develop their confectionery. Returning to Kherson is not currently feasible.
"Waiting for things to settle down is no longer an option," Vecherikova said. "I have a child, something to live for, and a business I've invested five years into. I can't just abandon it."
Odesa's Godshot and its affiliated confectionary face the same challenges as other local businesses due to the power outages.
"Our powerful generator consumes a lot of fuel daily, adding significant costs," she explained. "We spend 60,000 hryvnas [$1,500] a month just on fuel."
Vecherikova focuses on current challenges and avoids comparing them to her past in Kherson.
Svertilova is fortunate to live in her own city and is outraged by suggestions she hears about ceding parts of Ukraine in exchange for peace.
"It's easy to say, ‘Give them Donetsk or Luhansk,' when it's not your home," she said. "If you don't live in a city targeted by an aggressor, it's easy to make such suggestions. How far would they go? Peace won't come that way."
Away From Russia's Influence
Both in 2014 and in 2022, Odesa proved that Russia's influence in the city, though significant, has been overestimated. In both cases, citizens demonstrated they saw no future within Russia.
The process of rethinking the colonial past continues in the city and across the country. This effort has become more evident since the 2023 adoption of a law on the "decolonization of toponymy" that aims to remove remnants of the colonial past from public spaces.
Consequently, several streets in Odesa are being renamed, sparking heated debates. Additionally, at the end of 2022, the monument 'to Odesa's founders,' which featured Russian Empress Catherine the Great and was used by Russian propaganda to claim the city as Russian, was removed from a central street.
The monument is currently stored at Odesa's National Fine Arts Museum. The museum, located within a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has itself suffered from ongoing aggression. Most recently, a Russian strike in November 2023 caused significant damage to the museum's premises.
"The museum lost its administrative building, which housed researchers, managers, and restorers," said museum Director Kateryna Kulai. "Since November, we have not been able to use that space, which has significantly impacted our work psychologically. We are now scattered across a few small rooms in the library."
Overall, according to Ukraine's Culture Ministry, nearly 2,000 cultural infrastructure objects across Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed during the Russian aggression.
"We see that today, not only territorial integrity is in the enemy's crosshairs, but Ukrainian culture itself is under threat," Kulai notes.
The museum's collection was removed early in the full-scale invasion, and many current exhibitions reflect on the war through the work of contemporary artists. According to Kulai, beyond preserving the museum's collection, their role now is also to support each other and other cultural institutions across Ukraine.
"It is important to understand that the question of the national museum is a question of national security," she explained. "It is crucial for us today to be a point of support for the formation of cultural identity in our country."
This work also helps Kulai and her colleagues cope with the stress caused by the constant threats to the city.
Living Day-By-Day
While the end of the war is eagerly anticipated, people avoid dwelling on when it might come.
"During the first year, we hoped for Ukraine's victory each month," Svertilova said. "Now, I still believe that justice will prevail, though it won't bring back the lives lost, and I don't see how it will end soon."
Vecherikova, on the other hand, tries not to look too far into the future. She has come to terms with the fact that, for now, she has no home in Kherson. Odesa is where she will work and build her life.
"We all want everything to end soon," she said. "Just like we woke up one day and the war had begun, we wish we could go to sleep and wake up to find it over. But it's not healthy to live in constant expectation. It's better to live day by day, and eventually, the chance to return will come."
"We've managed to endure through the third year," museum Director Kulai said, "so the fourth shouldn't be worse. It won't be easy, but we'll get through it."
