An Interview with Tatyana Kagitina @tatyanaodesssa from Odesa, Ukraine
2023 July 8, 500 days since the full scale illegal invasion by Russia.
Written by Workloaf writers keyboardcheems & HenryTheGypsy117
(Photo) Tatyana Kagitina with her adopted dog on Odesa Beach, Ukraine.
In June 2023, Oleg Veretskyi, an Odesa playwright and author turned civilian fund raiser for the war effort suggested that Workloaf support Tatyana and Antonina Kagitina. These two career women in Odesa, Ukraine, were preparing cloud funding activities to support the valiant defenders near the Zapporizhzhia front and had reached out for help to the international community. Pursuant to this recommendation, Workloaf members quickly began working closely with the Kagitina sisters to provide assistance and support in promoting their important and urgent fund raisers.
All Ukrainians are facing life-threatening, traumatizing and distressful situations every day in one way or another since the full scale illegal invasion of Russia in February 2022. The Odesa Sisters have not been immune to the persistent brutality of the Russian violence. Nevertheless, like countless valiant Ukrainians in the face of real genocide, the Odesa Sisters have invested extraordinary effort into the civilian war effort, while simultaneously living as fully and as “normally” as they can in the beautiful port city of Odesa in south Ukraine. This is the voice of these resilient women.
(Photo) Antonina Kagitina @antoninaodessa is the younger sister of Tatyana Kagitina. Both sisters live and work in Odesa, the third most populous city in Ukraine with over one million residents before the full scale illegal invasion by Russia.
Q: First of all, are you and Antonina really sisters?
A: Yes! Antonina is six years younger than me, but we are biological sisters. We are very close in both private life and professional work.
Q: What were you doing before the war?
A: My professional work focused on the development, promotion and export of Ukrainian wines and spirits. I was also Head of Imports & Exports of foreign alcoholic beverages in Ukraine. Because of my work, I travelled internationally on a frequent basis, as close as Moldova, Romania and Georgia, and as far as Guangzhou in China.
I also worked with my sister Antonina, who had the idea to start a family business in producing and importing towels, bathrobes, bed linens, and uniform for high-end hotels and restaurants. She trained in Turkey learning how to source the raw materials and manufacture products to high standards. Antonina is an expert with over a decade of experience in this field now. We were successful. We had business partners in Kyiv and Kharkiv. Regrettably, since February 2022 we’ve lost touch with some of them and aren’t sure if they are alive. And of course our business almost stopped completely.
(Photo) Tatyana exhibiting Ukrainian wine at the 2019 InterWine Exhibition in Guangzhou, the largest biannual wine and spirits trade exhibition in China.
Q: Did you think about evacuating after February 2022?
A: When the full scale invasion started, many people around me talked about leaving Odesa, leaving Ukraine. It was terrifying in the earliest days, when Russian warships were pointing their guns at us from the Black Sea. Imagine, every day, you look out your window or balcony and think the next second you could cease to exist or your family and entire life destroyed. This continued until April 2022 when Moskva was sunk, and after Zmiinyi Island was liberated in June 2022 we could breathe a little.
I thought about evacuating too. However, I love and am proud of Odesa, which throughout history has been a cosmopolitan international port city with the confluences of cultures and people. I myself am from Odesa, from a family with ancestral roots from Ukraine, Poland and Russia. All my memories are in Odesa, how my grandfather was a sailor who brought back gifts from the world over including Japan.
Both Antonina and I graduated Odesa National University with English Literature and Language degrees. My younger child is learning Karate now here and even now attends her classes every week. My world is based in Odesa. I stop being me if I leave Odesa and Ukraine. Odesa, Ukraine is my identity. So, I stayed.
Q: It sounds like the war has severely impacted your career.
A: Well of course, like all Ukrainians in fact. However we need to look forward, thinking of how to rebuild our economy even from now, and especially after the war is won.
(Photo) Example of towels imported from Turkey by the Odesa Sisters before the war.
Q: When did you start helping the war effort?
A: Soon after the full scale invasion, many of our friends started volunteering to become defenders. They needed basic things like uniforms, protective plates and so on. Our defenders’ uniforms become damaged and soiled every day, especially after injuries. So, Antonina and I started to try to help them. At first, we just got our hands on things we could give to our friends going to fight for us – with all my contacts in international trading that was not difficult. Of course, the import/export business became unpredictable so things became harder to acquire quite quickly. By September 2022 I was calling for donations for winter uniforms.
In October and November 2022, we were asked to make ZSU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) winter uniform coats and pants, UBACS (under body armour combat shirt), camouflage windbreakers and sleeping bags for the defenders in the eastern front. Ukrainian friends fund-raised and we produced and delivered. It was unbelievably difficult because there was no power for about a week in November and we had to work with generators. The entire city was blacked out at night and those days without hot water were some of the most depressing and trying days. However, we had a job to do so in the end we managed to fulfill the orders.
(Photo) Material for ZSU sleeping bags being cut in Antonina & Tatyana’s workshop in October 2022.
(Photos) Finished winter camouflage wind breaker sets and sleeping bags just before delivery.
(Photo) Winter UBACS specified by ZSU finished and ready for delivery.
Then, in April 2023, we were invited to collaborate with Lviv’s Front Line Kitchen in their drive to equip the ZSU, specifically by fund-raising to produce 100 sets of summer uniforms. That was a large cloud funding project after several smaller fund-raisers to support our defenders.
(Photo) A few of the 100 summer uniform sets which were produced at the invitation of the Front Line Kitchen for ZSU defenders.
In producing ZSU specific uniforms, the experience that Antonina gained in Turkey and from running our family business truly helped. In fact, I don’t think we would be as useful to the war effort if not for her professional expertise.
The money generously donated was used for the material, paying one lady to cut, two ladies to sew, and then a little bit for gasoline to procure all the material and to send the products to where they need to go. To be honest, Antonina and I used our savings for some of the larger uniforms which need more textiles, and that wasn’t included in the price. So far, we were able to manage but now the requests from the front are increasing so we are aware of the challenges ahead.
(Photo) Roll of adaptive underwear fabric.
(Photo) Finished samples of the 2-set adaptive underwear produced by Tatyana and Antonina.
Q: What are your current fundraising activities?
A: After our first fundraiser for uniforms, we were asked by doctors, medics, and soldiers for adaptive underwear for use at the hospitals where the injured defenders were being treated. We have already received excellent feedback from the recipients and we had just prepared a second fundraiser for the adaptive underwear when we received a new urgent request for 102 ZSU specific uniforms from the Zaporizhzhia front. So, currently we have a second fundraiser for uniforms with high priority.
Q: Why are you making uniforms for the defenders?
A: War is expensive. Ukraine’s economy is hammered every day by Russia. The government’s money and international assistance must be spent on basic infrastructure and weapons. That makes sense.
The soldiers have no time to wash or mend their uniforms in the current counteroffensive. When their uniform is ripped, burnt or stained, a fighter can’t stop to wash, dry, repair and change. When he is injured, the uniform is also torn apart. So the uniforms being produced and delivered are not extra uniforms, they are to dress the defenders so they can go fight with proper clothing. Obviously 102 uniforms is not enough, but it is better to provide 102 than not – it is something we as civilians can do.
(Photo) ZSU specified summer camouflage rip-stop twill fabric being cut for uniforms in the workshop of the Odesa Sisters in June 2023.
Q: How can everyone else help?
A: First of all, you are already helping Ukraine so much. We are so grateful for all the help from outside of Ukraine as well as from within. All the donations, all the welcoming of evacuees outside of Ukraine, all the crushing of disinformation. It is amazing. We especially appreciate all the funds donated to grass root war efforts like ours. I thank everyone even if it is only a few dollars. Having been in business and being a mother of two girls, I know how hard it is to make money, and how each donation is actually a sacrifice. Any and all help is really valuable. For us right now, first and foremost, we focus on the request for uniforms for the defenders at the front, and hope that our requests for donations will be heard.
Q: Given your background and career, why are you producing these products instead of importing them? I found Chinese adaptive underwear on Amazon for $34 per pair. Army surplus uniforms is sold in the UK for about $15. I recognize it helps the Odesa economy not to send the money overseas, but isn’t it cheaper to import?
A: Your question is interesting as we have in fact received several anonymous suggestions to buy from army surplus shops or on-line vendors. Some even gave us the exact contact attaching a price list. Honestly, I have not seen nor touched the UK or USA surplus uniforms selling at US$15: whether the uniforms are used or new, if all the fixtures are in place, if the sizes are correct to dress our defenders, if the material is rip-stop and heat resistant, and of course, there is the camouflage pattern. There is often a good reason why army surplus is sold after-market to general civilian consumers. Sometimes there are defects that make the clothes acceptable for wearing around the house, but not appropriate for battle with live rounds. That’s the problem as we cannot play lottery with our defenders’ lives.
What I wish to say is that, we produce uniforms with specifications defined by the ZSU with durable rip stop / twill material. The camouflage pattern is specified by ZSU so it is not like one can buy the uniform on-line or in surplus shops in bulk. In the end, we must deliver ZSU specific camouflage uniforms which isn’t available in foreign surplus shops. For those who say, it does not matter that the camouflage is not ZSU specified, I ask them – would they send their own defenders to fight risking their lives, with surplus shop uniforms even if they did not comply with their army’s regulations?
It is the same for medical clothing. Maybe products sold on-line is acceptable, but perhaps it is not. A hospital in any safe country will not blindly purchase 1,000 pairs of adaptive underwear on-line without knowing the quality or trusting the vendor. Why would we do such things for field hospitals in a war zone? We don’t have time to test the trustworthiness of every on-line account while people are getting emergency treatment every minute. Also, our underwear price is for two pairs including delivery costs, so it is already 50% cheaper than Amazon.com.
By the way, there were many complaints about Turkish military shirts (Ubaks) at the beginning of the war, not because they were bad quality, but because their sizing chart was different from ours. These are unpredictable and time-wasting complications & also take away the chance to deliver the correct items in time.
Q: How do you keep going?
A: This question reminds me of what one of my children asked me in March 2022. She asked me if she would die before her birthday in the summer. My healthy child was asking me if she would be killed by Russians within a few months.
Every day, most Ukrainians are more afraid of suffering than to be killed by the Russians. Suffering from being injured when a missile hits ones’ home, suffering from discovering your family or closest friend has been killed, suffering from being told the defender who was provided a uniform has lost a limb, suffering to see the excruciating pain of the soldiers who are being treated from severe wounds from the Russian attacks and being able to only provide some relief with chocolates or adaptive underwear.
In the past 500 days, we have experienced despair, hope, fear, and pride. I have learnt that there are no borders to values, that help comes unexpectedly, and to believe without logic is the most difficult and magical thing. Life is beautiful and can be short.
We will carry out this fundraiser for the uniforms for our defenders and for adaptive clothing for the injured at the army hospitals near the front. We must and will persist. We sincerely hope that donations will continue to make these actions possible. And of course, Ukraine will win!
Thanks @tatyanaodesssa for taking the time to answer our questions as well as for fact-checking with @antoninaodessa before its publication.
~END~
The Workloaf 