Ukrainian fashion brand in bombarded city picks up and flees

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Just days ago, Artem Gorelov was trying to survive in one of the most brutal parts of Ukraine, the Russian-occupied Kyiv suburb of Bucha. Now he stands in a quiet room in the late afternoon sunlight, hand-making hats for a local fashion brand worn by Madonna and Ukraine’s first lady.

Gorelov has joined Ukrainians' massive migration west to the city of Lviv, near Poland. And, unusually, the 100-employee company he works for arrived with him. Searching for safety but determined not to leave Ukraine, the brand Ruslan Baginskiy is among the businesses that are uprooting amid war.

Two months ago, first lady Olena Zelenska was in the hat-maker’s showroom in Kyiv. Now the company operates in two borrowed classrooms of a school, its workers delicately piecing together materials near students’ decades-old sewing machines.

It is a slower process, but clients like Nieman Marcus and Bloomingdale's have expressed support, said co-owner Victoria Semerei, 29.

She was among the Ukrainians who didn’t believe Russia would invade. She recalled being in Italy the day before the invasion and telling partners that war wasn’t possible.

Two hours after her plane landed back in Kyiv, the bombardment began.

Daily bombings led the company’s three co-founders to make the decision to flee. While some employees scattered to other parts of Ukraine or to other countries, about a third moved the company's essentials to Lviv two weeks ago.

“Normal life will resume one day,” Semerei said. “We need to be prepared.”

The company threw itself into the national wartime effort that has seized Ukraine, donating money to the army and turning its Instagram feed from brand promotion to updates on the war.

“This is not the time to be shy. Not anymore,” co-founder and creative director Ruslan...