Businesses in Ukraine are not waiting for the war to end. They are pushing ahead, says Yuriy Sorochynskyi, CEO of Nemiroff vodka, Ukraine’s largest spirits exporter. Despite bombs hitting shipments, Nemiroff’s products still reach major UK chains like Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Late last year, a container holding 17,000 bottles was hit by a missile at Odesa port. Another shipment from a supplier was also destroyed. "We had one or two containers destroyed in port by missile attacks," Sorochynskyi said. "This is now business as usual." Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, keeping exports moving has been vital. Nemiroff vodka sales in the UK rose 24% last year to £6.25m, making it one of the fastest-growing premium vodka brands. Russian vodkas have been removed from many European shelves, helping Nemiroff grow quickly. The brand sponsors Ukraine’s boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk and partners with Premier League football clubs Aston Villa, Fulham, West Ham, and Everton. Nemiroff is now sold in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and the Co-op, and returned to duty free shops at Heathrow and Gatwick airports last October. More than 40% of its sales are in Western markets. Global sales dropped from about 10 million cases in 2010 to 2.4 million in 2022 after pulling out of Russia and Belarus but have partly recovered to 4.4 million cases this year. The company stopped selling in Russia immediately after the war began. To keep production going amid attacks on power stations, Nemiroff bought a gas generator. It also relocated an Italian bottle top supplier’s factory hit by a missile. Nemiroff helps competitors by offering bottling facilities, showing teamwork in tough times. Sorochynskyi said basic needs like bathing are hard for workers due to power cuts, especially for people living in city flats without alternative energy sources. People often queue at shopping centres for electricity or wifi. Nemiroff’s distillery is in Nemyriv, Vinnytsia oblast, home to a distillery since 1752. Owned by Yakov and Bella Finkelstein and Anatoliy Kipish, the company was privatised in the 1990s. With ports under attack, Nemiroff now mainly ships by truck. The Black Sea block forced them to find new routes, taking four months. The Ukrainian government and EU are improving railway lines to the west, including new tracks to Hungary, Slovakia, and soon Poland, plus better access to Romania’s Black Sea ports. Though production halted briefly when the war began, Nemiroff now presses on, showing resilience amid crisis.