Odesa, Ukraine. While many have left others have adapted their daily lives to a 9PM curfew, a heavy military presence, roadblocks and closures and a palpable tension as everyone waits to see if Russia will further threaten the “Pearl by the Sea."

Hundreds of people gather in the rain outside of a school turned resource center in Odesa, Ukraine. Here they will be registered and helped with an array of needs. People can have a warm meal, or get clothing or other items they may not have been able to take with them when they fled, get assistance with housing or transportation to another destination, or receive medical care. Most have arrived by train and fled continued fighting in the Donbass, Kharkiv, Mykolayiv, and villages in the east.

A historic building in the Odesa city center is surrounded by sandbags, barbed wired and small metal barricades.

Hundreds of people gather in the rain outside of a school turned resource center in Odesa, Ukraine. Here they will be registered and helped with an array of needs. People can have a warm meal, or get clothing or other items they may not have been able to take with them when they fled, get assistance with housing or transportation to another destination, or receive medical care. Most have arrived by train and fled continued fighting in the Donbass, Kharkiv, Mykolayiv, and villages in the east.

Hundreds of people gather in the rain outside of a school turned resource center in Odesa, Ukraine. Here they will be registered and helped with an array of needs. People can have a warm meal, or get clothing or other items they may not have been able to take with them when they fled, get assistance with housing or transportation to another destination, or receive medical care. Most have arrived by train and fled continued fighting in the Donbass, Kharkiv, Mykolayiv, and villages in the east. World Central Kitchen partner Crossfood delivers 500 meals daily.

Two women carry shopping bags past metal barricades that block many of the main streets in the Odesa city center. While some of the city's population have fled, and some businesses have shuttered, more than half of the population remains; for those who have stayed, daily life has continued on despite and in spite of the proximity to war.

Donated water is stacked outside of the Odesa Food Market; the water is for refugees who arrive in Odesa as well as for Mykolayiv following a missile strike that caused damage to the water supply.

"Many of these people do not have the money to make or buy hot food. For some, their children have left to go to other countries and they are alone. It is important we do not forget them in this war time." World Central Kitchen partners in Odesa, Ukraine provide more than 100 meals each day to elderly pensioners and the poor.

Each day, 1500 meals are delivered to Odessa Regional Medical Center for Mental Health--750 for lunch and 750 for dinner. The menu on this day was chicken soup with noodles and rice with vegetables. Most of the nurses at the hospital have worked here for more than 20 years.

“I cook for everyone who needs to eat—we feed the army, the refugees, people who lose their jobs. Everyone who needs the hot meals, we will help them. This is my work. Three days after the war started, my wife and children go to Poland. It is difficult; Yes, every day I am calling. In this time I am helping more people when I am cooking in the kitchen, but if I am needed in the army? No problem. I go to the war.” Sergii has been a chef for 22 years. Born and raised in Kyiv, he moved to Odesa in 2016 and is currently working with World Central Kitchen partner Izzi Cafe in Odesa, Ukraine.

“Izzi cafe is my love. Before the war we had our ordinary schedule. We met our guests and smiled to everyone. Then came 24th of February. It was the day when Russia started the full-scaled invasion in Ukraine. We stopped our activity. We stayed at home for several days and then we decided where would we stay. We almost lost our team because only three people decided to stay here. On 26th of February we opened the Izzi cafe again. We had a plan to cook the food from the products we still had to people in need: soldiers, firemen—whoever needed foods. Many restaurants gave me their products because they were closed. I made a new team of volunteers and we started to cook the meals.” Dmitriy Zhovnirenko is originally from Donetsk Oblast. In 2014 he fled fighting in Western Ukraine and moved with his family to Odesa where he opened Izzi Cafe.

Maia Konstantinovna is 83 years old. Born and raised in Odesa, she has spent all of her life in the Pearl by the Sea. As the war in Ukraine began to escalate, Maia moved to the monastery for safety and company in early March; her only family is one daughter who lives in Germany. When asked about her favorite memories of Odesa she couldn’t choose just one, “You know, it’s difficult to choose one memory. All memories about Odesa are great.”

“I lived with my son in the Prymorskyi district of Mariupol. The action started from the left coast. We heard the sounds of explosions but we couldn’t expect that it would be this way: we had no electricity, no gas, no water. We had no phone connection. As the fighting came closer to us everyone started to say to us “you should leave now. The first two weeks were so scary. It was not that houses were destroyed one by one. No. No. Whole districts were destroyed at the same time.” Irina Vitalievna, 59, fled Mariupol with her son on March 21, 2022.

“To care for the people, to love, It’s our duty. This is the difference from the occupiers who show animal cruelty. It really affects me. How is this possible in the third millennium among civilized people?” Abbess Seraphima, 59, is has been the Mother Nun of the Odesa Saint Archangel Michael Convent for 26 years.

A sign in the Odesa Food Market reads, "The nation is not for sale."

in Odesa, Ukraine, a quiet defiance permeates as residents remain despite and in spite of the proximity of war. While many have left others have adapted their daily lives to a 9PM curfew, a heavy military presence, roadblocks and closures and a palpable tension as everyone waits to see if Russia will further threaten the “Pearl by the Sea."

A fashionably dressed woman walks down the sidewalk in Odesa, Ukraine in April 2022. For those who remain in the city, daily life has continued on despite and in spite of the proximity to war.