Vitalii Desiatnychenko, a manager at Ukrainian restaurant Veselka in New York City, helped navigate the restaurant and its staff through two tumultuous years of an>An East Village institution
Since 1954, Veselka has been a New York staple. The restaurant was originally opened by a Ukrainian immigrant as a small coffee shop>Homegrown support
When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Desiatnychenko says he couldn't sleep or eat. He constantly checked his phone for updates on his family still in Ukraine, including his mom, dad and 83-year-old grandmother.
Now, he calls them daily before they go to sleep, accounting for the seven-hour time difference — and again as they wake up, before he goes to sleep. "The only question I have every time, it's the same question: 'Are you guys OK?'" Desiatnychenko says. "I don't care about anything else. I just want to hear that they're OK."
Almost immediately after the invasion, Veselka became a community hub for Ukrainians in New York. The restaurant's owners quickly decided to donate proceeds from sales of borscht – a traditional Ukranian soup made from vegetables and fermented beet juice – to the Ukrainian government, intended for military needs.
The restaurant also converted its warehouse into a donation center. So far, people have given flashlights, batteries, diapers and medical supplies for Ukrainian citizens. "People have been bringing things constantly, every day, nonstop," Desiatnychenko says. "I was really surprised about how people picked up on this idea."
Veselka employee handmaking perogies, the Ukrainian restaurant's specialtyMickey Todiwala
Desiatnychenko's workdays are consistently longer now than they were a couple months ago. The new donation center has added to his list of responsibilities, too — and the stress of his family's safety weighs on him constantly.
But despite the mayhem, Desiatnychenko says he's comforted by the community around him.
"Veselka has become a place where people can just come in and gather together, where people are looking for support from other people, and they can share their thoughts," he says. "Other people are trying to show their support in Ukraine [and] a lot of people just want to show that they actually care."
