KHARKIV — In the spring of 2024, the Russian military began a new offensive on the Kharkiv region, but the Ukrainian army was able to slow it down. Throughout this period, Kharkiv has been under almost daily shelling: bombs and missiles fall on residential buildings, shopping centers, civilian factories, stores, printing houses and children’s sports schools.
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The increasing intensity of air attacks can be seen in the statistics of those wounded: throughout the autumn of 2023, there were 155 wounded in the city; during the winter, 340; but in the spring of 2024, the number had already increased to 788.
Despite the shelling, cafes, beauty salons, theaters and shops are open in Kharkiv. People spend time in parks and go jogging. Important Stories spoke with three women who are helping Kharkiv continue to live the life of a full-fledged city to the extent that it is now possible.
Elements of a normal life
“People come to us for coffee and for good feelings. All of us work to create an atmosphere so people can forget about the war for at least half an hour. We are constantly speaking with people: you sit down, chat about nothing much, and life becomes easier,” says Daria Luchko, who is in charge of promoting the Kharkiv coffee shop Red Coffee.
Red Coffee has been operating near the city’s Botanical Garden metro station for 8 years. In 2022, the coffee shop suffered heavy shelling. The owners restored it, but then closed it in 2023, when they had decided that running such a business during the war was too big a financial risk.
In 2024, Red Coffee reopened: A barista who had worked there for many years purchased the shop, and nearly the whole team from before, including Daria, came back to work. The young woman moved to Kharkiv in 2020 from Kramatorsk, a city in the Donetsk region that was under occupation from April 12 to July 5, 2014. Almost immediately, she got a job in the cafe and now calls Red Coffee her second home.
People still want to experience the elements of a normal life, like their favorite coffee shop.
“There are six of us working here, and we are like one family. We joke all the time, dance, sing songs, support each other and try to pass this on to our visitors. I literally live at work, because staying alone with yourself is a sure way to fall into apathy. Despite the shelling in the city, from day to day our profits are only growing. People still want to experience the elements of a normal life, like their favorite coffee shop,” she says, adding that people begin to worry when it gets too quiet: “We are so used to living with the shelling.”
The Kharkiv residents have become very close during the war, Daria says. “We have a lot of regular customers for whom our cafe has become a part of their life, and they try to help us. During blackouts, regular visitors would come and offer to buy us a generator so we could continue to work. When our umbrella in the street tore open, the neighbors came to help sew it up. Everyone knows that everything is very expensive now, and they try to support us through these kinds of acts. How can we throw our hands up when we are getting such crazy support?”
“The girls from the neighboring beauty salon and our team go to see each other: they come to us for coffee, and we go over to get our nails done. Soldiers also come to us, and we always make them coffee free of charge. Every time they thank us, my heart starts beating faster,” Daria says.
A little bit of warmth
Psychologists say that seeking small pleasures, such as a cup of a favorite coffee or a new hobby, are necessary actions in times of war and stress. They prevent a person from falling into a state of apathy.
In 2022, due to the full-scale invasion, Elena Dryuchan had to close her Kharkiv flower shop. But in 2023, Elena reopened ROSSE alongside a coffee shop. A professional florist for 27 years, she began holding master classes so that Kharkiv residents could take their minds off the war.
“Women of all different ages, from 18 to 60, came; grandmothers and grandchildren came. Everyone needs to feel good, to take their minds off the war for at least a couple of hours. The closer we got to April [2024], the more tense people were. At the master class, they relaxed a little, but all the talk was about leaving – whether to stay in Kharkiv or not,” Elena says.
People order flowers as often as they did before the full-scale invasion.
She describes her life in Kharkiv in 2024 as follows: “A bomb flies in, everyone waits for about five minutes maximum, and then, as if nothing had happened, they go for a cup of coffee at their favorite cafe.” But despite almost daily shelling, the city does not stop. There are traffic jams on the roads; a kindergarten and a school are open in the metro, which still works for free; and people order flowers as often as they did before the full-scale invasion, Elena says.
“Many flowers are ordered by those who left Kharkiv — through these flowers, people try to send a little bit of warmth to their relatives who remained in the city. There are many orders placed for no reason, with no specific date in mind. Often, these flowers are for parents. Soldiers on the front order flowers from us for their wives. Our mission is to convey the emotions of people who have lost touch with each other because of the war,” she says.
Some hope
Flowers have also helped Olga Skorova. Following the start of the full-scale war, she planted a garden in the courtyard of her high-rise building: “I see so much destruction in the city that I really want something beautiful, to see that many flowers are blooming.” The neighbors liked this idea and now come to help with the garden.
Olga came with her family to Kharkiv from Luhansk in 2014, when her city was occupied. A few years later, she and her husband opened a furniture renovation and manufacturing business. The full-scale war did not stop their work.
Since February 2022, the company has been offering a new service: the installation of armored film on windows. This film is glued to both sides of the glass and protects against shelling. Even if the glass breaks, the shards will not fly in all directions, but rather remain on the film. It is inexpensive to install, and “even pensioners can afford it,” Olga says. While in the first years of the war there was little demand for the service, a waiting list formed after the spring of 2024.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Olga has taken on another job: she is the foreman of the Dobrobat volunteer team, which cleans up debris. Their task is to “sew up the house” immediately after a shelling – to cover up destroyed roofs, windows and walls.
“Houses can’t be left for later after a shelling, otherwise people won’t have anywhere to live,” Olga explains. “Young people can still do something themselves, like removing glass and putting plywood in the open window. Old people cannot cope on their own; without help, they’re simply left spending the night with holes instead of windows and doors. We work until the victims stop coming to us.”
Not leaving
Olga is still in Kharkiv; none of her housemates have left either. In fact, she says, Kharkiv continues to accept internally displaced people, just as it accepted her family in 2014. Support is needed from international organizations and private donors for both the army and the city so that people can continue to stay, Olga says. “People don’t want to leave their homes. Even if your home is cold, with no light; even if it is half destroyed after a shelling, it is still yours. You feel safer at home, no matter what happens.”
“When we went to Balakliya, a city in the Kharkiv Oblast, in September-October 2022 after de-occupation, it was just fear and horror. People had been living in bombed-out houses, without electricity or water, since February. They were living in high-rise buildings and cooking food on the street over a fire. Every apartment we entered was very cold and damp, the wallpaper was peeling off, and there were no windows. But the people were at home. Now, Kharkiv residents stay in their city out of anger. This is a choice of principle.”
There is nothing that can break us anymore.
Daria also has no plans to leave the city. “Our roads are being cleaned, flowers are being planted, cafes and shops are open – life is in full swing. I am proud of everyone here who finds the strength to do their job every day and continue living. There is nothing that can break us anymore. Those of us at the coffee shop aren’t afraid of anything. We believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and will continue to fight for the city. The war began in a single day and will end in a single day.”
Elena temporarily left Kharkiv at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, returned in July 2022, but recently moved to Kyiv “so that the children could feel calmer.” Elena says it was only when she went to Kyiv for work that she realized how difficult it is to live in her hometown. “If I had never left Kharkiv at all, I would not have thought about moving. You just get used to the fact that there are always explosions all around you and take it as the norm. When I returned home after a trip to Kyiv, my whole body physically tensed up, and I had constant anxiety.
While Elena is out of town, her flower shop is open online. She plans to return home as soon as there is less shelling: “I’ve been to many places in my life, I’ve seen many countries and cities, but Kharkiv is still the best city in the world.”
