In Ukraine’s Kherson, War Turns Dining Out Into an Act of Defiance
Amid relentless Russian attacks, residents and restaurateurs keep businesses open, sustaining a fragile civic life on one of the war’s most dangerous frontlines.
Illustration: Anuj Shrestha for Bloomberg
In the embattled southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russian forces are dug in across the River Dnipro just a handful of miles away. The sky shudders with the sound of relentless explosions. It’s often too dangerous to venture outside: a dystopian reality so deadly that roads are shrouded in tunnels made from fishing nets to protect against the constant threat of drones.
But even under such lethal skies, 78-year-old dental surgeon Mykhailo Lukiyanenko sits at his favorite table at a newly opened restaurant called Liman every weekend without fail. He has the same order every time: a Cognac and a bowl of soup called solyanka, which his late wife used to make. He doesn’t know how to cook, he says, but the restaurant offers his favorite comfort food and some company at the same time.