BLITZ INTERVIEW: Katerina Zirka - Ukrainian entrepreneur in Italy - "This war won’t end politely. It will end either with justice or with silence. And silence is unacceptable."

She built up her gastronomy and tourism business in Italy from scratch. Then the war came and she set aside all aside to help the war effort. "I couldn’t just wave a flag at a rally and then move on."

Where are you from? And where are you now? Doing what?

I was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 1984. After living in Kyiv and, for a time, in Moscow - which I left for good in 2014 - I moved to Italy with my two sons.

I now live in Lombardy, where I have built a successful gastronomic tourism business called ‘Totally Italy’.

But when the full-scale war broke out, everything changed. I temporarily set my business aside and focused 100% on helping Ukraine: organizing supply chains for tactical medicine, protective gear, vehicles, fundraising through my platform, and eventually creating the foundation Buongiorno, which connects donors, soldiers, and producers.

Now I balance both — volunteering and working — so I can support Ukraine not only with my heart, but with my earnings.

What kind of studies and work did you do previously? Where?

Before the war, I was deeply rooted in gastronomy. I specialized in Italian cheese, wine, and culinary tours — traveling across regions, working with Slow Food, designing immersive experiences. I had built a respected business and even expanded it across Italy before the COVID pandemic hit. Earlier, I worked in the restaurant business in Moscow, and even before that, in Kyiv. But my real transformation began when I moved to Italy with nothing but determination and two sons.

I built everything from scratch — as a woman, as a migrant, as a mother.

How has the war in Ukraine changed your life? Changed you personally?

The war turned my world upside down — again. After surviving the collapse of my business during COVID, I was just restarting when the invasion hit.

I couldn’t just wave a flag at a rally and then move on. I shifted all my energy into action: sourcing thermal imagers, helmets, medical kits, organizing logistics across borders. I drove loaded vehicles myself from Italy to Ukraine. I saw cities like Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kharkiv — and fell in love with Kharkiv again.

That was the real beginning of my return. I became tougher. Less empathetic, maybe. I feel how war rewires you — not only what hurts, but what doesn’t anymore.

But I also learned to love myself — not for how I feel, but for what I do. I proved to myself that I matter. That I can save lives.

What has surprised you most about Ukrainians these past couple of years? Good or bad?

Our transformation. Our brutal honesty with reality. Ukrainians are incredibly adaptive - we keep moving, even when we’re broken. But I’ve also seen how trauma carves deep. Some become kinder. Others - numb, even cruel. And yet - we are still standing. Still creating. Still choosing to show up.

What surprises me most is not that we survived — it’s that we refused to disappear.

What are your future plans?

I want peace. But not silence — I want justice, truth, and dignity for my country.

Until then, I’ll keep working, keep helping, and keep raising my sons to be strong and free — not just in words, but in action. I’ve returned to my business full-time — not because I’ve given up on the war effort, but because I’ve realized I can fund it myself. I don’t just want to ask for help — I want to generate it.

How do you see the war ending and Ukraine returning to a ‘normal life’?

This war won’t end politely. It will end either with justice — or with silence. And silence is unacceptable. Ukraine won’t go back to “normal.” That version of us is gone. We’re something new now — scarred, yes, but sharper. More aware of who we are.

Recovery will take decades. But it will happen. We are stubborn like that. And we know why we rebuild — because this time, it’s truly ours.

Tell us one thing you don’t think people abroad know about Ukraine – but they really should?

That we are not victims. We are a force. We are mothers who don’t sleep, children who draw sunflowers in basements, engineers, medics, volunteers, poets with bandaged hands. We are the ones who show up when no one else does. The ones who drive across Europe with a trunk full of medicine and no sleep.

Ukraine is not just a place under siege. It’s a mindset. A pulse. A choice. Don’t pity us. Stand with us. We are still here.