Tamara Bihun and her friend Anatolii Andrushko, who live near Kyiv, stand in front of a 2004 Opel that Ms. Bihun bought in Poland for US$950.ANTON SKYBA/The Globe and Mail
Tamara Bihun spent 32 hours on a bus from her home near Kyiv to Wroclaw, Poland, just to buy an 18-year-old Opel for US$950.
Ms. Bihun’s family’s car had been destroyed during heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces. Finding an affordable replacement had been all but impossible, until now.
In an effort to replenish Ukraine’s dwindling supply of cars and trucks, the country’s government recently dropped all duties and taxes on imported vehicles. The move has proven more popular than almost anyone expected, although a sudden gas shortage has made driving the new purchases difficult.
More than 14,300 cars were imported in the first week after the announcement on April 5, and there have been long lines of newly purchased vehicles at several border crossings.
At a customs clearance centre in Gorodok, outside Lviv, there were so many imported vehicles waiting for processing on Friday that some owners had to spend three days in the lineup, which meant sleeping in their cars overnight.
Ms. Bihun, 60, was among those waiting. The journey to get the car had already taken a week. But she didn’t seem to mind. She was just happy to have a vehicle again, and she wouldn’t have been able to afford the Opel without the tax break.
Her husband, Ivan, and their friend, Anatolii Andrushko, joined her on the trip to Wroclaw. They also bought a car apiece, each for around US$1,500. Both men are over the age of 60, which exempts them from a Ukrainian law that bans most adult men from leaving the country.
Cars are far from luxuries in Ukraine these days. “Owning a car during a war, it saves your life,” Mr. Andrushko said. Having a personal vehicle is what allowed his daughter and grandchildren to get away to Germany, he added.
Nastya Makar also had few regrets about spending three days in the customs centre’s parking lot, as she waited for the required paperwork to be completed on a 2009 Honda she’d bought in Poland for US$2,000. She was joined by her father, Igor Makar, who agreed that the wait was worth it. The war has driven up prices so much in Ukraine that his daughter would have paid twice as much for a similar model if she hadn’t gone outside the country to make the purchase, Mr. Makar said.
While buying a car has become easier, finding enough gasoline has gotten much harder.
Russia’s blockades and missile attacks on Ukrainian fuel facilities have led to a shortage of fuel across the country. Some gas stations have run out, while others have started limiting customers to buying 10 or 20 litres at a time. City officials in Kyiv have urged people to use public transportation in order to conserve fuel for the military.
Lucie Hava waits in line at a gas station in Lviv with her husband, Amir Azamat, and their six-month-old son, Amir, on May 1.ANTON SKYBA/The globe and Mail
Lucie Hava waited in line for an hour on Sunday at a gas station in Lviv with her husband, Amir Azamat, and their six-month-old son, Amir, just to buy 10 litres. “We are just wasting our time standing in a queue,” Ms. Hava said. They moved to Lviv two weeks ago. Their former home, in Poltava, was close to the Kremenchuk Oil Refinery, which the Russians attacked last week – part of what the Ukrainian government has called a campaign to destroy the country’s fuel infrastructure.
Ruslan Sydorovych, who was standing in line behind her, blamed price controls and logistics problems for the shortage.
Gas costs the equivalent of $1.64 per litre in Lviv, which Mr. Sydorovych said was too low to provide incentives for oil companies to service Ukraine. “Every government wants to bring lower prices for the people, but when the government makes too strong regulation, then we have difficulties,” he said. Mr. Sydorovych is a lawyer, and he drives his car constantly for work. He said he is now having to gas up every day because of the limits on purchases.
The shortage will also hurt Ms. Bihun, who plans to use her Opel to deliver humanitarian aid around Bucha and other Ukrainian cities. She is part of an organization that belongs to the National Women’s Council, and she expects to put hundreds of kilometres on her odometer as she gives rides to women who don’t have cars. “Sometimes we need to drive for 500 kilometres to deliver humanitarian aid and to help women,” she said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the shortage in a speech on Friday, and he has vowed to address the issue. “The occupiers are deliberately destroying the infrastructure for the production, supply and storage of fuel,” he said. He added that “government officials promise that within a week, maximum two, a system of fuel supply to Ukraine will be at work that will prevent shortages.”
Olena Miroshnychenko, who is from Kyiv, stands beside a 2007 Honda she bought for US$1,500 in Poland for her friend who lost a similar vehicle because of active warfare.ANTON SKYBA/The Globe and Mail
Fuel shortages were the least of Olena Miroshnychenko’s worries.
She bought a 2007 Honda in Krakow for US$1,500 and then waited three days at the customs centre with her mother, Natalia Miroshnychenko, and her eight-year-old son, Viktor. She had paid about half what she would have paid in Ukraine for a similar car, but she isn’t keeping it.
Instead, she’s driving the car back home to Kyiv and giving it to a friend and his wife who live near Irpin. The couple are expecting a child and lost their car during the recent fierce fighting in the city. “He called us and he told us, ‘Our car is burned.’ That’s why we agreed to do this,” Ms. Miroshnychenko said.
Despite the long drive and the wait, she’d consider making the trip again. “Maybe,” she said with a smile.
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