The story of Nadiia Aksonova: how a bakery in the village of Bilyky operates during blackouts

Nadiia Aksonova is near her bakery, September 2025. Photo: from personal archive.  

According to Nadiia Aksonova, owner of the bakery “Po Khlib”, constant work leaves almost no time for other aspects of life. “I either sleep or work,” Nadiia says.

Before 2022, Nadiia, a former employee of a large pharmaceutical company, lived in the village of Dvorichnyi Kut in the Kharkiv region. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine forced her to urgently leave her home and look for a safe place for herself and her son.  

“On 5 March, I left with my son for the village of Bilyky in the Poltava region, as it was closer to home. Our friends who were already there called us, and we went to them. They immediately found us an old house whose owners provided it free of charge. We only paid utilities and lived there for one year. In 2023, we moved to another house.” 

Nadiia recalls that local residents actively helped people fleeing the war. The settlement, with a population of about five thousand, received nearly three thousand internally displaced persons.

“Many displaced people arrived in the village, mostly from Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region. Local residents provided everyone with free food and clothes. We even had a collection point at the school where people brought food and preserved goods, which were then distributed to those in need.” 

Although the community in Kharkiv region where she used to live was not occupied, it remains under constant shelling. Therefore, it is still unsafe to return, and Nadiia’s life is now connected with the new community in Bilyky.
 

From home baking to her own bakery 

Since childhood, Nadiia loved baking, especially making bread. In February 2022, she began baking bread for fellow villagers in Dvorichnyi Kut free of charge, helping people during the first weeks of the full-scale war.

After moving to Bilyky, Nadiia tried to find a job. Due to limited employment opportunities in the village, she worked online for some time doing various side jobs. Eventually, she started baking bread at home for sale.   

Demand grew, and in the fall of 2023, she opened her own small bakery.  
“I thought for a long time about the name of the bakery and decided to call it ‘Po Khlib’ (‘For Bread’). It may seem simple, but I wanted a name that would be easy for everyone to remember.” 

Nadiia emphasizes that her bakery specializes in healthy baked goods. 

“My sourdough bread is made exclusively from natural ingredients. It is fermented by lactic acid bacteria, which ensures excellent taste, aroma, and easy digestion. It is healthy bread that is suitable even for people with various chronic conditions.” 

She makes the sourdough starter herself: 
“This is not an industrial starter but my own. I cultivated it myself and constantly take care of it—feeding it and maintaining the required temperature.”

With her pharmaceutical background, Nadiia advises customers on different types of bread. 

“I am good at bread, I produce it, and I know what ingredients it contains. That’s why I can properly advise customers — taking into account the product’s composition, dietary restrictions, and individual preferences.”

Gradually, the bakery began to grow: regular customers appeared, demand increased, and people kept coming back for her products. At the same time, Nadiia began thinking about speeding up production. 

According to her, this required additional knowledge, support, and more modern equipment. That is why she applied to participate in the project “Socio-Economic Recovery for Rural Women in Ukraine in the Context of War Crisis and Displacement,” implemented by the Rural Women Business Network with technical support from UN Women Ukraine and funding from the UN Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF). 

Within the project, Nadiia received a grant for bakery equipment: a dough mixer, a convection oven, and a ventilation system. This made it possible to increase production and stabilize the bakery’s operations. 

“With the convection oven and ventilation system, work has become much easier and faster. It allowed me to bake more bread, especially the types that people buy most often.”

Nadiia notes that the project’s support was important not only practically but also personally. 

“The project included lectures and psychological sessions that helped me cope with fears and supported me. There I met other participants with whom I still keep in touch. Sometimes we call or text each other.” 
 

Blackouts as a risk for the business 

Power outage in a residential building, February 2026. Photo: UN Women/Anatoliy Petchenko.

In the winter of 2025–2026, blackouts in Ukraine became a serious challenge for small businesses, particularly in Poltava region. While outages were initially occasional and short, the situation worsened — electricity began to be cut off for 4–5 hours, with only 1–2 hours in between. These circumstances directly affected Nadiia’s bakery, as all production processes depend on electricity. 

“Without electricity, there is no heating, and it becomes cold, making it impossible to bake bread.” 

Prolonged outages forced Nadiia to adapt: adjust to new conditions and gradually change her processes.. 

“I can’t say I managed 100%, but I tried. I adjusted to outage schedules when they were available, did some work by flashlight, optimized processes, and had to temporarily reduce the range.” 

Sometimes outages caused financial losses. 

“Sometimes you put bread in the oven and the power goes out. If it hasn’t had time to bake at least a little, it becomes unfit for consumption and, accordingly, for sale. In such moments, you really feel how much in our work depends on circumstances beyond our control.” 
 

Business resilience in unstable conditions

Due to constant power outages, it is difficult for Nadiia to talk about profitability. She explains that with small-scale production and unpredictable conditions, maintaining profitability is especially challenging: “For now, the bakery is not profitable because there is no stability. It is a small business, small-scale production, and it is always difficult to maintain profit with small volumes.” 

At the same time, Nadiia deliberately keeps prices stable to ensure her bread remains accessible.

“I try to keep prices stable because I want more people to have access to quality homemade bread.”

In the future, she would like to expand production and hire staff to focus more on developing the ассортимент rather than only on the baking process, while still maintaining affordability. Customer support remains a key source of motivation.

“I feel support from my customers. It helps me that people talk about my products, that they are used to them and don’t want to buy ordinary store-bought bread. Sometimes they are upset when I run out of bread. And that motivates me to keep working because I feel responsible.”

Nadiia believes it is important to work not only for oneself but also for one’s family, country, and community. At the same time, her biggest dreams are connected with the end of the war and the further development of her business.

“After the war ends, I want to return home to the Kharkiv region, but I do not plan to close my bakery. Instead, I want to open another one in my native village.” 

The project “Socio-economic recovery for rural women in Ukraine in the context of the war crisis and displacement” is produced by Rural Women Business Network, funded by The United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) with technical support of UN Women Ukraine. The United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) mobilizes critical support for local and grassroots civil society organizations working on women, peace and security and humanitarian action. WPHF is a flexible and rapid financing mechanism supporting quality interventions designed to enhance the capacity of women to prevent conflict, respond to crises and emergencies, and seize key peacebuilding opportunities.

This publication is produced with funding from the United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), however, the views expressed and content included does not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.