DOUGLAS MASON: The Ukrainian city that cannot stop being itself

Ukraine has new confidence after its recent stunning military successes against Russian forces, which have changed the dynamic of the war. That has put a new spring in the step of its cities too. They have moved from survival mode to getting on with recovery as the country feels its way towards a new normal, whatever that may turn out to be. This is most apparent in Odesa, a city that has always been a relaxed and pragmatic place.

Every country has city rivalries; the largest and richest city is for business, a serious place to go to build a career and make money, a New York, Toronto or Johannesburg. Their country opposites are more relaxed. Not a slacker city but an attractive and creative place as a lifestyle destination — San Francisco, Vancouver or Cape Town. In Ukraine Kyiv is for business and politics; Odesa is for pleasure and creativity.

Before Russia’s invasion Odesa was on the up. A city with a unique charm and reputation for hedonism, it had developed a substantial international tourism market in recent years — a sort of low-cost Black Sea alternative to Greece or Ibiza, based on beaches, bars and beautiful restaurants. The spectacular architecture — it has what may be the greatest collection of Baroque Revival and Neo-Renaissance buildings outside of Italy — and museums and literary heritage drew well-heeled visitors attracted to its high culture.

A critical mass of creative industries had been quietly transforming this laid-back Mediterranean-style city of 1-million people. Art, design, fashion, film, entertainment — even a local wine industry — as well as a growing export-orientated IT sector, were contributing to the formation of a more balanced local economy. The traditional economic mainstays have always been the seaport — Ukraine’s largest — and agro-industries in what was the centre of a prosperous agricultural region.

The party came to an end with Russia’s invasion in February. For the first two months of the war economic activity ground to a halt. Most businesses in Odesa closed as the city focused on survival amid daily missile attacks, mobilisation of a local defence force and a strict nightly 6pm curfew. Russian forces were finally halted and driven back by mid-April at the city of Mykolaiv, 130km to the east, reducing the threat of Odesa being captured and Ukraine’s access to the sea being cut off.

Like other cities in Ukraine the impact of the war and recovery since then has proceeded in stages. Restaurants began reopening in May and June, having previously served food — for free — to soldiers, emergency workers and anyone else who needed it. A retail revival has been gradual. People have had to be encouraged to spend money, with President Volodymyr Zelensky himself making this appeal in his nightly televised addresses to the nation. He called on people to support the local economy to enable their neighbourhood shops and restaurants to survive. Many still speak of unease over enjoying such comforts while others are fighting on the front line.

By now a veneer of normality has settled over Odesa, the city gradually going back to being itself. The bars and restaurants in the attractive central districts appear busy, with well-dressed people filling the streets. Local tourism has staged a faint revival since July as Ukrainians from Kyiv and elsewhere return for holidays.

The economic scene is otherwise one of devastation. Tourism has been knocked flat by the war and the seaport closed by Russia’s Black Sea naval blockade. The grain export deal brokered in July does not apply to other products, so the general cargo and other sections of the port are shuttered. Merchant seamen are unemployed. The service economy and retail sectors are at a fraction of their previous levels. Foreign journalists and volunteers are what is left of the international tourism market.

A collapse in demand is the number one problem in a country that is forecast by the IMF to be hit by a 35% contraction of GDP in 2022. Up to a quarter of Odessans have left the city, and probably the country, including many of its most affluent residents. Balancing this is an influx of the displaced from Russian-occupied cities, including Mariupol, Melitopol and Kherson — the latest in a long line of refugee arrivals in times of war.

Amid this wreckage Odesa has been trying to recover and move towards a new normal. Businesses are developing workaround strategies. Remote work, which was already well established because of Covid-19, has been widely implemented. This is benefiting independent professionals, particularly those with clients outside Odesa or outside Ukraine. The IT sector has recovered; employees are working remotely or have been moved to subsidiary offices abroad.

Odesa’s creative industries are a more mixed picture. The collapse in domestic demand is forcing companies to internationalise to survive. Boris Alexandrov of local branding and design agency Brandon-Archibald says his firm’s international clients in Western Europe and the Middle East are enabling the company to keep going, and this is also where he is looking for new business development. “We still have domestic clients whose projects are continuing, but 80% of them had to stop and new ones are not coming in. Other companies without international business are struggling.”

Odesa is not standing still. Adaptation and a relaxed approach are what have carried it forward in the past. People are recreating themselves and finding new ways to manage. Igor Oks, an events manager and local media personality, is now supplementing his income by working as a “fixer” for international news crews. He believes the city will survive and carry on: “Those who live in Odesa love Odesa; people do not want to leave. We will find a way to adjust”.

Odesa may be living in reduced circumstances now, but the city has always had to accept hope and tragedy, riches and loss. In the last century it was conquered and recaptured eight times and endured 70 years of Soviet communism. According to the US writer and literary critic Vladislav Davidzon, a one-time resident, the city has always had a role in Ukraine in times of flux. It is the place people pass through on their way out or land up on arrival or return.

The city’s remarkable character — “charming, free and open” — will remain. As Odesa and Ukraine settle in for what may still be a long war, this will be needed.

• Mason, an associate of Johannesburg-based risk and resilience consultancy Eunomix, is on extended assignment in Ukraine.