Working through war
Anna Sankina, who heads up government affairs for CHS Europe, 在她的家乡基辅，她走过一处展示缴获的俄罗斯坦克和火炮的地方, Ukraine.
By Amy Sitze
在俄罗斯于2022年2月入侵乌克兰几周后, 安娜·桑基娜(Anna Sankina)与丈夫和两个孩子开车前往罗马尼亚的安全地带, ages 8 and 10 at the time. 突然，这家人看到俄罗斯军用直升机出现在地平线上.
“我们祈祷他们会朝另一个方向走，不要朝我们走来, because they would for sure shoot at us,” says Sankina, based in Kyiv, Ukraine, who heads up government affairs for CHS Europe. “It was so scary.”
Fleeing toward safety
那次经历只是入侵以来，桑基娜和CHS在乌克兰的其他员工面临的一个压力时刻, she says.
After weeks of preparation for a potential invasion, CHS took immediate action amid the chaos, violence and uncertainty that followed the first Russian attack. 希望离开的雇员和家庭成员(年龄在18至60岁之间的男性被要求留在该国), the company chartered a bus to a town near Bucharest, Romania, and arranged hotel rooms, access to a child psychologist, legal assistance, dental and medical care and other services.
Sankina和她的家人决定不立即加入她在罗马尼亚的CHS同事. 出于对父母的担心，她和父母住在距离基辅约40英里的一个小镇上. 虽然在一起很舒服，但情况不确定.
“我们很害怕，因为我们不知道俄罗斯人会从哪个方向来，”她说. “There was a risk of food and fuel shortages, 以及对互联网和电力的担忧，因为俄罗斯威胁要轰炸我们的基础设施.”
Eventually, they decided to leave. Sankina和她的孩子们搬进了CHS提供的临时住房, 而她的丈夫则留在乌克兰西部边境附近的一个小镇，因为返回基辅太危险了.
想找一个能让她专注于工作的环境, she and her children then moved to Poland and later to Germany, 在那里，他们和一个陌生人住了两个月，这个陌生人为桑基娜开了招待所，甚至在她需要出差的时候照顾她的孩子.
The instability was tough on her kids. “The war made them older – way older,” she says. “I told them, ‘It’s only me. We don’t have your dad with us. You have to behave and you have to be grown up now.’” They quickly understood the new normal, she says, making friends and joining activities at the local school.
Of course, it was hard on Sankina, too. “You are like a robot. 你醒来，让自己看起来很专业，你不思考，不哭泣，也不回忆，”她说. “You just survive.”
‘A land of heroes’
2022年6月，乌克兰军队占领基辅后，这家人搬回了自己的家. Now, more than a year later, 桑基娜说，在这个城市里，有一种正常生活的表象:咖啡馆, restaurants, theaters and other businesses are open, and people go through the motions of their former lives.
但是，当空袭警报几乎每晚都在嚎叫时，很难过上正常的生活, the sound of explosions wakes you up, friends and relatives are killed or live in constant danger, and the news is full of reports of Russian atrocities. 在整个战争期间，CHS基辅办事处的员工一直在不同的地方工作, 但他们的工作方式已经发生了变化——一方面是因为在战争条件下运送粮食变得更加困难，另一方面是因为他们每天都生活在个人压力之下.
For example, Sankina says, 人力澳门皇冠赌场平台部偶尔会发电子邮件，告诉基辅的员工在家工作，因为俄罗斯的轰炸使得去办公室上班太危险了. And the farmers they work with are facing unimaginable challenges, including mines in their fields and, in some cases, entire farming operations destroyed by bombs.
“I will proudly say that we are a land of heroes,” she says. “We are struggling but we’re trying to keep the wheels turning.”
Soon after the Russian invasion, the Black Sea ports, which are Ukraine’s main export arteries, were closed. 当地政府和企业不得不迅速改变粮食流向乌克兰西部边境的方向, where grain could be moved by rail, barge and trucks.
CHS一直在利用与罗马尼亚的跨境点向该国的康斯坦察港口运送粮食. The company has also used trucks, 多瑙河港口的货轮和驳船运送当地农民生产的粮食. “CHS继续向世界供应乌克兰粮食，尽管战争的不确定性造成了许多问题,” Sankina says.
Strength for the long haul
CHS employees in Ukraine work as buyers, originators, contract execution staff, compliance, HR and IT as part of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) team. With regional headquarters in Geneva and offices in Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine, the EMEA team sources and markets grain, oilseeds and fertilizer in the Black Sea region, Mediterranean Basin and Middle East.
Sankina的职责是支持企业对政府的团队，并确保供应链在困难的条件下尽可能顺利地运行.
她说，基辅团队感谢来自世界各地的卫生中心同事的支持. In May 2022, hundreds of employees contributed $87,611帮助在乌克兰的同事处理因战争和流离失所造成的个人和家庭开支.
她最想让更广阔的世界知道的是，乌克兰人是强大而坚韧的.
“让我们继续前进的是，我们设法把恐惧和痛苦转化为有效的能量，这样我们就可以专注于最重要的事情——我们的胜利。,” Sankina says. “Everybody is doing everything they can to support victory. We will never be tired.”