Kyiv has ceased to be a normal city, far from it. Overwhelmed by war and suffering, the city is being rebuilt. Business leaders are doing their part to resist and help those who need it most. In supermarkets, everyone is trying to cope with the situation so that life goes on. Report.
For almost a week, the Russian army has terrified the people of Kiev, striking residential areas almost every morning. On Friday, March 18, at dawn in Svyatoshyn, west of Kyiv, an apartment building was shelled, killing four people, the capital’s mayor’s office reports.
A few hours later, not far from the destroyed houses, the residents of the area went to the supermarket for shopping. If a few shelves are completely empty, this large area frequented by the middle and upper class remains duly stocked with meats, cold cuts, coffee, or even hummus or bottles of kombucha, that trendy Asian drink. With their carts, shoppers come and go, and a few hours earlier, smoke, ambulances and fire sirens were wreaking havoc in the area.
In this supermarket of the Silpo chain, bread is baked on the spot, and customers buy it up as soon as a new batch is ready. Kyiv, Ukraine, March 18, 2022 © David Gormezano
People line up at the back of the store to buy bread baked on the spot. Manager Irina Gorshkova calmly explains that there is no shortage and that the problems with the supply of the first days of the war are practically solved.
“We still have problems, but we managed to get online orders and home delivery. This is very important for the elderly. If the supermarket is still able to function, it is primarily thanks to the employees. come to work on foot, because there is almost no public transport left.”
Irina Gorshkova, a supermarket manager, wants her store to remain open. Kyiv, March 18, 2022 © David Gormezano
Irina doesn’t know how her management manages to maintain nearly normal deliveries in her 240 stores across the country. In “their” supermarket, some employees can no longer hold their positions because they live too far or have left the city. But they were replaced by volunteers who come to work for free.
Irina and Vitaly thus introduced themselves spontaneously. “I am old and I have health problems. I cannot take up arms to defend my country on the front lines,” says the retired engineer. “I needed to do something to help my country. The government and the army managed to keep daily life and prevent everything from collapsing.”
Vitaly and Irina volunteered to replace the supermarket employees who can no longer go to work. Kyiv, March 18, 2022 © David Gormezano
His companion Irina, an accountant, still works remotely in a pharmaceutical laboratory, but she says she has very little activity. She comes for several hours a day to put food on the shelves so that “Ukraine remains standing. We’re going to rebuild the country. I thank all the countries of the world that support us.”
Preservation of a near-normal state in a city engulfed in war
As for fruits and vegetables, new pallets have just been installed. We chat with Galina, one of the supermarket employees, who interrupts us because she has to take care of “her favorite customer” for whom she picks apples. “Many clients know her, she is very popular,” says the manager.
She is in her sixties and says she “swarms” in the morning to get to work. “I am not afraid to walk around the city, even if it is a war. I got used already”.
>> Read: In the city under Russian shelling, the people of Kiev held their breath
“I live in the very north-west of the city, near Hostomel and Irpen, it is very dangerous. Yesterday, a warehouse was bombed right next to my house. At least here at work, I’m not afraid to hit the Bomb on the head, I live on the 14th floor, you know. I finally feel more at ease at work.”
I want peace. Peace in Ukraine and around the world
His director listens touched. No doubt, holding back tears, she says that “everyone is doing their best to adapt to the events, but it is very difficult for us. I decided not to leave, I want to stay in Kyiv to do my job. Do you want me to leave? I work I have been here for 10 years and I personally know many of our clients who thank us every day for being open and for the fact that our employees continue to work.”
Because Kyiv set itself an hour of civil resistance. Customers, volunteers or employees who meet in this supermarket experience a moment of strong solidarity and try to fight the fear that torments them. Now the city is under threat from Russian troops, who are located about thirty kilometers from the center and whose missiles can strike at any moment.
Galina continues to go from one client to another and says that the territorial defense (armed civilians who, in particular, control roadblocks) “stop cars at roadblocks to take me to work. And I cook food for them. I want peace. Peace in Ukraine and for the whole world.
Reorganization of civil society
In the western areas of the city, many companies stand still and contribute to the war effort with the means at their disposal. Alexander Kozhan runs a company that has made interior design popular with designers.
Together with their employees, they became volunteers. The driver unloads a van with humanitarian aid from Italy into the company’s yard. Together with his wife and other employees, they immediately began sorting products and identifying drugs. “We are sending this help to people who need it, whether they are civilians or the army. Hospitals ask us for first-aid kits.”
Oleksandr’s wife sorts medicines that arrived in humanitarian parcels, Kyiv, March 18, 2022 © David Gormezano
Like many Ukrainians, Alexander has long ceased to be a pacifist. Today, he wants to be helpful at all costs and uses his company’s logistics to do his best.
“We are finding vehicles to take people who have fled war zones to the west of the country. We transported groups of orphans with accompanying persons. On the way back to Kyiv, we carry parcels with humanitarian aid.”
In Kyiv, residents are now living from hand to mouth, having decided to resist in every possible way. For several days, Russian military activity north of the city appears to have slowed down, but the city remains deserted. Every night, the fear of shelling and longing for the encirclement of the capital and its possible retaliatory shelling, as in Kharkov or Mariupol.