Masha Naumova is on her way to Kyiv to recover a dozen missiles. She chats from the passenger seat, stopping at one point to hand her ID to a soldier at a Ukrainian checkpoint. She doesn’t mind having to do this every 10 kilometres. “It makes me feel safe,” she says.
A few months ago, Masha’s main occupation was running Gnezdo Bar, a speakeasy in Kyiv hidden away so expertly that you won’t find it unless you know where to look. When the rockets started raining down on her hometown, the thought of leaving didn’t even cross Masha’s mind. “I never thought about it,” she says. “Many of my friends stay in Kyiv or fight in eastern Ukraine without hesitation. When an enemy comes to your homeland, you have no choice but to defend yourself.
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Masha has been an integral part of Ukrainian nightlife for decades. She was associated with River Port, the team behind Collider, and since opening Gnezdo, the bar has helped shape Kyiv’s underground sound by nurturing local talent. The bar has about 10 permanent employees, all of whom serve in the military or work with volunteer organizations.
Masha volunteers for a self-organized network called Zgraya that formed after the Russian invasion in 2014. for towns that don’t have access to supplies,” Masha says. Two days before we spoke, Masha helped deliver water to Mykolaiv, which had been without it for 20 days. The two founders of Zgraya also own bars, and Masha thinks it’s no coincidence that the nightlife community reorganized so quickly after the Russian invasion. “Our businesses have closed so we can spend more time on it, and we can raise money from the friends we’ve made all over the world through music.”
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