SERVING SUSHI FOR SLOVIANSK

Braving artillery strikes, one Ukrainian chef risks it all to keep the dish on the front line

- CASSANDRA VINOGRAD AND DZVINKA PINCHUK/NYT

Serhii Kovalov doesn't like sushi. Nor does the sushi chef at his restaurant in eastern Ukraine.

But when customers started asking for it, Kovalov navigated both enemy shelling and ordinary supply-chain issues to get fresh fish for Philadelphia rolls to his front-line town, Sloviansk.

Now, as Russian forces have drawn closer and life gets more bleak, many Sloviansk residents are weighing whether to flee. Not Kovalov. He's determined to keep serving sushi to soldiers and civilians who are seeking comfort, sustenance or a taste of something special after more than three years of war.

"I know I'm needed here," the 30-year-old Kovalov said, gesturing at the restaurant and the town outside that has long been in Russia's crosshairs. "So I stay."

Sushi has long been wildly popular in Ukraine, and for people in Sloviansk, this treat provides a sense of much-needed normalcy.

When Sloviansk came under attack in February 2022 when Russia's full-scale invasion began, sushi wasn't even on the menu at Kovalov's restaurant, Slavnyi Horod, or "Glorious City".

His was the only restaurant in town that stayed open in the early days of the war, and suppliers would not deliver.

"So we began building entirely new logistics routes," Kovalov said. Colleagues relocated to central and western Ukraine, setting up new vendor relationships. To get goods back across the active front line to Sloviansk, Kovalov sometimes drove round-trip himself.

As people fled, the restaurant's staff dwindled from 35 to seven and became a "family", Kovalov said.

With no water or electricity, meals were cooked outside on a fire. Eventually, the restaurant purchased a generator and drilled a well, with Kovalov intent on keeping its doors open.

Even after a missile destroyed his apartment, Kovalov headed to the restaurant with a concussion.