A service member of pro-Russian troops stands guard near a line of cars with evacuees, who leave the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 17, 2022.ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO/Reuters
Two years ago, Ukrainian businessman Taras Getmansky launched his car-sharing company, Getmancar, with 40 vehicles in Kyiv, quickly expanding to 500. Now, he can no longer say with much certainty where hundreds of them have gone.
When the war began, Mr. Getmansky cast normal business considerations aside and offered a special fare, just one hryvna per day – roughly 4.5 cents – to help people fleeing the fighting. Usually, daily fares range from $40 to $120.
In the past few weeks, Getmancar vehicles have become a lifeline for people seeking safety. But the fleet has also become a symbol of Ukraine itself, horrifically battered by a war that has scattered families, killed thousands and destroyed entire towns.
Almost half of Mr. Getmansky’s cars are now out of reach, some turning up in Poland, Hungary and Germany. Some have been “damaged by shelling,” he said.
Others went to Gostomel, a Kyiv suburb that has seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war.
“Some were in places covered by artillery fire. It’s likely some people were killed in these cars. Some cars were damaged by marauders,” Mr. Getmansky said. He can’t calculate the total damage yet but is certain it is punishingly high.
Getmancar, a Ukrainian alternative to Zipcar, was initially available only in the capital and its suburbs. But from the first day of the Russian invasion, Mr. Getmansky allowed customers to drive to other parts of Ukraine. This allowed thousands of Kyiv locals to get their families and relatives to western Ukraine and the border with neighbouring Poland and Romania.
The 534-kilometre road from Kyiv to Lviv, in western Ukraine, has remained largely untouched by the war and is usually an eight-to-10-hour drive. But when Russian troops occupied the main route, civilians were forced onto alternative roads. At least half of Kyiv’s population have fled the capital, and almost three million people have now left Ukraine.
Even for those with cars, it has been a gruelling exodus.
Dozens of checkpoints have made long traffic jams even worse, with drivers waiting hours to pass through each one. “The kids are screaming in a car. They are exhausted by the long trip,” said Daria Dubnitskaya, a Kyiv resident who managed to escape from the city with her two children in a Getmancar vehicle.
“But that is better than hiding in shelters for hours, not knowing if you come out alive.”
Some people use the cars to get humanitarian aid to the most devastated regions. One family hiding in a shelter in Kyiv booked a car for an overnight stay. “It is warmer in the car than in the shelter,” Mr. Getmansky said.
Some people managed to escape in one of the cars from Hostomel, a small suburb of Kyiv that quickly became one of the deadliest places in the country in the opening days of the war, when Russian troops were trying to capture the airport there.
After getting his family to safety, one customer said “that I saved their lives,” Mr. Getmansky said. “And I have other similar stories that almost made me cry.”
Fearful of Russian saboteurs, Mr. Getmansky has allowed only confirmed customers to use the cars.
He also asked Polish car-sharing firm Panek to allow Ukrainian refugees to use its cars if they manage to get to the border. The Polish firm offered 1,000 cars for the cause.
What happens to Getmancar, however, is unclear. The company was turning a profit, but Mr. Getmansky had planned a share sale this year to finance an expansion. On Feb. 24, he was invited to an investment conference, where one bank told him his business was worth US$17-million to US$20million.
The war started that very day.
“The firm has funds sufficient for just six weeks,” Mr. Getmansky said. “After that I will pay salaries for employees and that is it.”