Uber restarting ridesharing service in Ukraine

On Thursday, Uber said it is restarting its ridesharing service in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with the goal of a return to normality as soon as possible. The move was made seven weeks after Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine and several days after Russian forces pulled out of the suburbs surrounding Kyiv due to stiff resistance in the area.

As Russian forces pulled back, images showed destroyed houses and roads, as well as mass graves with hundreds of dead civilians.

Anabel Diaz, Regional Manager of Uber EMEA, said Thursday that Uber is not charging any fee for any trip, so full fare paid by riders will go directly to local drivers.

Uber is donating 10,000 free trips to city government employees and other emergency workers to provide essential relief services to the citizens of Kyiv. Uber has operations in other parts of Ukraine, including the cities of Lutsk, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv and Rivne.

For the past month, Uber has been offering free rides for refugees to get from the Ukrainian border to Polish cities.

More than 4.7 million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began, including 2.7 million to Poland.

Lyft, Uber's biggest competitor, doesn't operate in Ukraine, but it has employees in the country that the company says it is providing financial support for.

Airbnb is working with its hosts to fund short-term housing for 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, a heavyweight of the sharing economy.

All reservations in Russia and Belarus were canceled last week by Airbnb.