In late summer of 2022, Lunca Bar owner Yehor Lohvynovskyi and his team were taking a walk in central Kyiv when they spotted an empty courtyard — “We should open a bar here!” one of his coworkers said half-jokingly.
None of them knew at the time that the joke would turn into real business plans less than a year later in February 2023. The bar’s original location, the southern city of Kherson, while liberated from Kremlin forces in November 2022, was under constant Russian shelling.
Rebuilding in Kyiv was the only path forward for the business if it wanted to stay open.
Today, Lunca Bar stands in the heart of Kyiv, its vibrant courtyard filling up during the warm season. Inside, the team recreated the cozy atmosphere of the Kherson location, with some of the bar’s original tables and the walls still adorned with artwork from the city’s artists.
The war has reshaped the landscape of Ukraine’s economy, forcing businesses to adapt or relocate. Small and medium-sized enterprises, which make up 99% of the country’s economy, have been hit particularly hard.
These businesses provide 82% of Ukraine’s jobs and account for 65% of total sales and production. Since the full-scale invasion, 7,820 businesses have relocated within Ukraine, according to Ukrainian analytics firm Opendatabot.
Founded in 2015 by Lohvynovskyi and his partner, Lunca Bar started as a 30-person speakeasy. Over the years, it grew into a central hub for the community.
“The philosophy was always more than just alcohol,” Lohvynovskyi said. “It was about the atmosphere and bringing people together.”
By 2022, Lunca had doubled in size and added a terrace. Then war came. When Russian forces invaded Kherson right after the start of the invasion, Lunca Bar became a shelter for the team and a lifeline for locals, providing clean water and bread as supplies grew scarce.
On June 3, 2022, everything changed. Russian forces knocked on Lunca’s door and demanded that the bar be turned over to them. Lohvynovskyi, who had already left for Kyiv in May, knew it was time to get the team out of Kherson.
"Russian forces knocked on the Lunca’s door and demanded that the bar be turned over to them."
The team decided to use the company’s reserve fund for the evacuation. The plan was to relocate everyone to Kyiv, secure temporary employment, and volunteer every Friday together at a charity based in the center of Kyiv.
About settling in the city, about six months passed before the team finally decided they wanted to reopen in Kyiv.
“I gathered the team,” Lohvynovskyi said. “I told them, ‘This is going to be an all-in effort. It will be tough — we’re strangers in the capital, and we’ll have to do everything ourselves. Are you ready to give it 105%?’”
The team didn’t flinch. Their answer was simple: “Easy.”
The team faced another new challenge. “Aside from taking our city and bar, the war also took my phonebook,” Lohvynovskyi said. “All the connections we built over the years were gone — everyone was scattered around the world.”
But luck came when a group of local Kyiv lawyers offered their services pro bono, helping them navigate the logistical hurdles and giving them the boost they needed to move forward.
Once they found the right spot, the team set June 22, 2023, as the opening date. But Russia intervened again. On June 6, 2023, Russian forces blew up the Kakhovka Dam. Lohvynovskyi and his team rushed back to Kherson, hoping to salvage whatever they could from the original Lunca Bar before the water reached the right bank.
They were too late. When they arrived, Lunca Bar was already underwater. Seventy percent of their equipment and furniture was floating.
Despite the devastation, the team launched a rescue mission, saving what they could — including a dog stranded on a rooftop — and offering help to nearby towns also hit by the flooding.
For the opening, which was delayed by a month due to the Kakhovka dam’s destruction, they used the furniture rescued from the flood, attaching QR codes that linked to videos of their recovery efforts.
“We invited Khersonians who had relocated to Kyiv,” Lohvynovskyi said with a smile, “because who better than them would understand the journey we had taken?”
When asked about the importance of small businesses staying in Ukraine, Lohvynovskyi reflects: “I am an optimist. I believe in a better fate for our country, and I want to contribute to securing that future. I feel a huge responsibility — for my hometown and for the capital, which has welcomed me as an entrepreneur.”
Lohvynovskyi admits that had Russia not invaded, he would have never imagined moving to Kyiv.
“I was happy in Kherson. We had the sea, the river, I had a house by the water, a job by the sea, a motorboat. Every Friday, I would go to the house by the river to spend time with my family.
But I had no choice — I made the conscious decision to move to Kyiv. Even though I wasn’t fond of it at first, Kyiv was safer than most cities, and I knew I could give my team employment here, if not at Lunca Bar, then at other bars.”
Liliane Bivings
