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.