Uber culture: How the ride-sharing app helped Ukraine save its historic artifacts

Ride-sharing app Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi spoke to Euronews about the company’s recent philanthropic endeavours.

Ukraine’s cultural sites have not been spared from shelling by Russian forces. Speaking to Euronews, Khosrowshahi explained that the company tried to help in any way it could.

“We started on the ground in Ukraine really focusing on helping refugees get to safety, helping doctors and nurses [by] essentially helping them get to places by providing free transportation,” Khosrowshahi says.

Then in May 2022, Uber was contacted by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture’s National Research and Restoration Center (NRRC) about the country’s cultural heritage being under attack. They partnered with the department and created a specialised app called “Uber Restore”. 

This allowed those in the Ministry to gather artifacts from museums and religious sites that had been damaged during fighting. Free lifts were provided to conservationists to rescue fragile pieces of work that were under threat. 

The idea behind was that the ride-providing app could speedily help the Ministry of Culture preserve Ukraine’s national identity and culture.

Khosrowshahi also addressed missteps over the “Uber Files” leaks, where he admitted that the company was determined to be compliant and make more progressive strides.

“We can’t make any mistakes for past behavior. But when I came in we underwent a radical transformation. As a startup, we did many things too fast. What I wanted to do was reformulate where we continued to innovate but we grew the right way.”

Watch the video above for Dara Khosrowshahi’s interview with Euronews.