From Donbas Mayor to Kyiv’s Top Taxi Driver

Andriy Bondarchuk is one of more than a million people who were forced to flee Russia’s war against Ukraine. In Kyiv, he started a new life and became a top taxi driver. Read and watch more in our project Stories from Ukraine.

Andriy Bondarchuk was the mayor of Debaltseve, a city in Eastern Ukraine.He fled the war in June 2014. Today, Andriy is Kyiv’s top Uber driver, having racked up almost 24 thousand trips.

Originally from Donetsk, he served as Debaltseve's mayor in 2006-2010. “With the Russian aggression, I felt that everything I wanted collapsed”, he says.

Andriy has degrees in public administration, law and history but it is taxi driving that helps him support his family. It also allows him to tell the truth about the Donbas war to foreign clients from all around the world.

The material was prepared with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the project Stories from Ukraine. The material reflects the position of the authors and does not necessarily coincide with the position of the International Renaissance Foundation.