‘Our desire to create is bigger than our fear’: How one Kyiv restaurant rebuilds, adapts and keeps going after 3 Russian attacks

It was never normal for Anna Zavertailo to shelter in her restaurant’s basement kitchen alongside her employees and diners as drones flew overhead. But after multiple attacks damaged her popular family-run businesses in Kyiv, safety has become the top priority.

Her restaurants-cum-bakeries, Zavertailo and Honey, which Anna runs with her husband, Stas, have been victims of three separate attacks in just over a year. But the couple has been selling carefully crafted cakes and pastries to foreigners and locals alike since 2014, and they refuse to let the strikes close down their business.

"Our desire to create is much bigger than our fear of Russia," Anna told the Kyiv Independent on Sept. 8 over a poppy seed and cherry roll at the Zavertailo restaurant in the upscale Golden Gates neighborhood, next to St. Sophia’s Cathedral.

It’s the first day the restaurant has reopened and a handful of customers are sitting downstairs enjoying coffees and cakes. Just four days earlier, the restaurant’s floor-to-ceiling windows were blown out after a Russian jet-powered drone struck the security service (SBU) office next door.

The shock wave sent furniture flying, and glass shattered all over the restaurant as employees leaped into action and guided customers to the underground shelter in the kitchen. The couple weren’t in the restaurant at the time but heard the explosion from the British embassy down the road, where they had a visa appointment ahead of an award ceremony in London next month.

While none of their employees were injured, the attack still made the couple anxious. It was the second strike in four months, and they had just invested in a new Zavertailo location downtown. Now they would have to fork out for repair costs and close their most profitable location for several days.

As Russia intensifies daytime drone attacks on Kyiv and civilian casualties rise, businesses like Zavertailo are adapting to a deadly new reality. The couple had dealt with overnight strikes before, when staff and customers were at home, but this was the first time an attack had happened during the day, when people were working and eating.

Each attack is a painful new learning experience for the couple. After the first one in August 2025, they stocked equipment such as industrial vacuum cleaners to suck up the shattered glass and plastic coverings to replace the broken windows. That way, they can clean up and reopen as fast as possible.

"We joke that, before long, we’ll be the top CEOs in crisis management. Every time we face a new level of crisis, we have to make a new set of decisions," Anna said.

Fortunately, the couple is lucky to have an amazing team that helps them, with management from all their branches working late into the night to clear up the debris on Sept. 4, Anna said. "We’re all in this together," she added, smiling.

The duo has little time to decompress, but they find energy in baking bread and washing plates — something to keep their hands busy, Anna said. But their minds are already focused on how to reopen and improve safety for their employees.

After the first strike, they introduced air alarm protocols for staff to go to the shelter, although that’s becoming harder in Kyiv as alarms drag on for hours. This time, they are looking for grants to buy expensive anti-blast film for their windows to protect them from shock waves.

They also set money aside to keep paying bills and salaries when they have to close locations or traffic dips. In total, the attacks have cost them $500,000 in both repair costs and lost income. For now, they are still profitable, but Anna says they are concentrating on "surviving" before they can think about "growing."

Since 2024, their situation has worsened year by year, and Anna is terrified of the coming winter, which Ukraine, and particularly Kyiv, is underprepared for. In previous winters, the couple overcame lengthy blackouts with generators that kept them connected.

But this time around, Anna fears there will be a mass exodus from the city, and their customers, largely middle-class professionals and creatives, as well as foreigners, are the ones with the means to leave. The company can’t rely on passion alone.

"I am hysterical. I’m scared we won’t have enough guests to bring in the revenue we need," she said.

Their team is currently researching ways to preserve goods as Russia continues to target Ukraine’s food supply chains. Last month, attacks on supermarket logistics centers caused food shortages, depriving their bakers and chefs of chocolate and nuts. This winter, they worry key ingredients such as milk and butter could be in short supply.

With few government and international financial support programs available to Ukrainian restaurateurs, the Zavertailos rely on themselves to survive. Their customer base has been incredible, Anna said, with people buying bread, pastries, and other goods after attacks.

One option is opening a location in western Ukraine, where the attacks are less intense. But with cash flow at a low point, they would need to find an investor. For a business that has been entirely family-run for 12 years, finding a like-minded partner is not always easy, Anna said.

Even as Russia steps up its attacks, Anna says that they will remain in Ukraine. They know that they risk damage again, but they want to support the country economically and provide good jobs for their 350 employees. It’s about giving it your all to build a better future, even in the face of an existential threat, she said.

"We’re staying strong; we’re supporting our people. We want to fight and show how creative and adaptive we are," Anna said.

"We dream about a happy ending, but we understand that there might not be one."