18 | MARCH 10 • 2022
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A third employee in Mykolaiv, another
strategically poor area due to its proxim-
ity to the Black Sea, rivers and bridges,
was advised to leave, but couldn’t because
of his elderly parents. “He stayed behind
to take care of them,
” Gendelman says.
For this employee, the situation is
“loud.” Bombs, shots and other racket
fill the area, but he’s still able to get
outside for food and other supplies in
times of quiet.
THE WAR IN KHARKIV
Gendelman’s four employees in
Kharkiv, however, have a different
story. One employee managed to leave
Kharkiv, driving to nearby Poltava
where things are not as bad. “He’s in
good shape, other than there is no
internet,” Gendelman says. “He told
me that they brought in new food sup-
plies.”
The other three employees in
Kharkiv, on the other hand, “have it
the worst.”
“Kharkiv is under a very big attack
right now,” Gendelman says. One
employee, Eugene, who lives on a high
floor of an apartment building, moved
in with another employee, Dennis, to
be lower to the ground.
Together, they shelter with their fam-
ilies, which include four adults and five
kids. “The apartment is very small, and
they can’t be in rooms that have win-
dows,” Gendelman explains. “
All nine
of them, for the most part, are in one
room.”
As they look outside, they see what
they call “hail.” However, this is not
traditional hail in the sense that we
know. Instead, this hail in Kharkiv con-
tains nuts, bolts, nails and other sharp
objects that rain down from the sky
after attacks.
“When these rockets come down,
they explode and all of these sharp
objects fly in different directions and
cause a lot of damage,” Gendelman says.
“They come 40 at a time.”
During these attacks, some people
go to bomb shelters. Others lay on the
floor, Gendelman explains, in their
hallways and other corridors away from
windows. The metro stations used as
makeshift bomb shelters, however, are
what Gendelman calls “hell.”
“It’s really cold because there is stone
or tile. There is no heat. There’s a bunch
of people and everyone is hungry, dirty,
scared. People are almost shoulder to
shoulder.”
In a bus station outside of the build-
ing where Eugene and Dennis shelter,
a bomb hit the area, killing everyone at
the station, Gendelman says. A missile
even landed near their apartment build-
ing, but luckily it didn’t blow up. “The
ground is shaking,” he explains. “The
building is shaking. They’re scared.
They’re scared for themselves. They’re
scared for their families.”
NO DIRECTION FOR WHAT TO DO
With no direction or instruction for
what to do, many residents in Ukraine,
including Gendelman’s employees in
Kharkiv, take the situation day-by-day,
hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute. Now,
they also face the concern of potentially
running out of drinking water as the
city is surrounded.
The fourth employee in Kharkiv has
a bathtub made of cast iron, where
he hides with his family. “He, his wife
and their child lay in the tub to protect
themselves,” Gendelman says. “Outside
of that, they have supplies. They do not
have internet, but they do have heat
and electricity.”
Born in Kharkiv and immigrating to
the U.S. in 1990, Gendelman has a mix
of emotions about the ongoing crisis in
Ukraine. “I’m extremely grateful to be
here and not there,” he says. “On the
other hand, I feel responsible for my
employees, yet I’m extremely helpless
because I really can’t do much. The
ideal thing to do would be for me to go
there and put them on a plane.”
Doing the only thing he can,
Gendelman continues to support his
employees trapped in Ukraine, consult-
ing with military personnel as the situ-
ation unfolds. “I’m really, really sad that
it came down to this,” he says. “I never
thought that anything like this could
happen in Ukraine.”
ON THE COVER
TOP: Gendelman
shared these
photos that show
what it’s like on
the ground in
Ukraine.