Autodoc AG has chartered buses.

Weeks ago.

For emergencies.

Now they were used.

The employees and their families at the Kharkiv site of the Berlin start-up Autodoc were brought to safety overnight.

"That's only 20 kilometers from the Russian border, the Russians are about to take Kharkiv," says

Christian Gisy, CEO of the company on Friday in Berlin.

Daniel Mohr

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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Gisy is in constant contact with the head of his company's crisis management team in Ukraine.

Two weeks ago Gisy was still there.

“The mood was good, we had fun, we were able to go out to eat, despite everything.

I am deeply proud and touched by how our employees are dealing with the situation.”

Autodoc has been preparing for emergencies since November.

Since the 2014 invasion of Crimea, no one in Ukraine had any illusions about what the Russian president would be capable of.

"We have ordered buses and booked hotels in places in western Ukraine that we have identified as safe," says Gisy.

“All employees have new laptops for mobile work.

It was all very rational, but when the time comes, it's a shock," he says.

"You can't really prepare for war."

The company has 120 employees in Kharkiv near the border, another 120 in the capital Kiev and 800 in Odessa on the Black Sea.

From there, many employees make their own way and flee to the nearby Republic of Moldova.

In the local capital, Chișinău, Autodoc has additional offices with 400 employees.

"We have to try to keep a cool head and make the right decisions," says Gisy.

"Should an evacuation bus really be provided, or is it the greater risk and the employees prefer to stay in shelters?" There has been no escape from Kiev so far, all the roads are blocked.

Hotels rented for two weeks

Autodoc has initially rented the hotels in the rural areas of western Ukraine for two weeks, with the option to extend.

“Our employees are tough, very mellow.

The Ukrainians don't think about giving up," says Gisy.

They don't want to abandon their country.

The company, which was founded in Berlin in 2008 by late emigrants from Siberia Alexej Erdle, Vitalij Kungel and Max Wegner and has achieved billions in sales with high profitability and 5,000 employees without outside investors, is multinational.

Many Russians also work at the locations in Ukraine.

"We don't have any ditches there," says Gisy.

In the Ukraine, the company mainly employs computer scientists, along with lawyers, marketing people and accountants, as well as many young people with families.

The Odessa location is like a second headquarters for Autodoc.

Customer service in ten languages ​​is controlled from there.

Actually, the company wanted to deal with an IPO.

But now the world is different.