A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Downtown Kyiv is rebuilding after Russian missile attacks last week. The strike destroyed dozens of homes, schools and businesses in the center of Ukraine's capital. New owners of a cafe, who had just opened their doors a few hours earlier, found themselves sifting through wreckage. Here's NPR's Hanna Palamarenko.
HANNA PALAMARENKO, BYLINE: The morning after the strike in Kyiv, the city center is filled with the sounds of cleanup - glass being swept, rubble hauled away, windows boarded up. The state emergency service is clearing debris from the destroyed Chernobyl Museum. The day before, this place sounded completely different.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing) Star shining (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Whoo.
(APPLAUSE)
PALAMARENKO: Next door to the Chernobyl Museum, husband and wife Yevhen Prusak and Olena Saienko were opening their own coffee shop, Hogo. They cut the red ribbon.
YEVHEN PRUSAK: (Speaking Ukrainian).
PALAMARENKO: "There were flowers on the street. A DJ was playing. It was beautiful, fun and energetic," Prusak recalls. After a busy opening day, the couple went home, tired but elated.
PRUSAK: (Speaking Ukrainian).
PALAMARENKO: "I woke up to the whistling sound of a missile, says Prusak." The coffee shop's alarm had gone off, and the couple immediately drove to the scene without waiting for the all-clear.
(SOUNDBITE OF VEHICLE ALARM)
PALAMARENKO: Saienko filmed the damage, unable to hold back her sobs.
OLENA SAIENKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).
PALAMARENKO: "The windows, the refrigerators, everything here was smashed," says Saienko. As another wave of attacks hit the city, the couple took shelter. By early morning, Prusak was back at the coffee shop, picking through the damage.
PRUSAK: (Speaking Ukrainian).
PALAMARENKO: "I checked the equipment, the coffee machine and the grinder. They were working, so I started making coffee. I just gave it a try," says Prusak. The couple decided to launch a fundraising campaign to rebuild the cafe. Prusak says the support reflects coffee's role in Ukrainian culture, which is much more than just a morning routine.
PRUSAK: (Speaking Ukrainian).
PALAMARENKO: "We don't just serve customers. We offer hospitality," says Prusak. He adds that shared experience of the aftermath have brought local business owners closer together.
PRUSAK: (Speaking Ukrainian).
PALAMARENKO: "I've stopped drinking coffee at my place," says Prusak. He now goes across the street for coffee as they share updates and advice on rebuilding. As crews clear rubble from the neighboring Chernobyl Museum, Saienko and Prusak serve coffee and treats at the cafe's few remaining tables and chairs, waiting for an assessment of the damage. Like the rest of Ukraine, they see only one option - rebuild and carry on.
Hanna Palamarenko, NPR News, Kyiv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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