As Ukraine continues to strengthen international partnerships during wartime, countries across the region, including Georgia, have become important logistical and humanitarian hubs supporting volunteer initiatives and private business cooperation. Ukrainian entrepreneurs working in restoration, transportation, and technical industries increasingly rely on international networks to sustain both business operations and frontline assistance projects.
Against this backdrop, automotive restoration specialist and Team Rotary co-founder Illya Porokhnavets represents a new generation of entrepreneurs combining business development with large-scale volunteer efforts. His work restoring vehicles and delivering them to Ukrainian soldiers reflects a broader regional movement of civic responsibility and cross-border support that continues to unite people throughout Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region.
For Ukrainian entrepreneurs, 2025 has become yet another year of working both for the country’s economy and for the benefit of Ukrainian soldiers. Since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, Team Rotary co-founder and automotive restoration specialist Illya Porokhnavets has been supporting the military by bringing vehicles from abroad, repairing them, and preparing them for service. This year alone, more than 400 vehicles have been delivered to the frontline on behalf of the volunteer movement “Avtobat,” which Illya founded together with friends back in 2022. We spoke with Porokhnavets about his plans for 2025 and about running a business during wartime.
“It’s interesting how the situation in the country has become more difficult, while the projects themselves have grown more complex and expensive,” Illya comments on the current business environment. Yet in the early days of the full-scale invasion, even this level of stability seemed impossible. At that time, Team Rotary’s operations came to a near standstill for almost six months, along with all plans for 2022.
Porokhnavets recalls how packed their restoration schedule had been before the war and how, in January 2022, he traveled to Portugal to pick up a car that was supposed to become the team’s next restoration project. However, by early spring, everything changed. Instead of vintage and collectible vehicles, the workshop began receiving pickups, SUVs, and vans almost exclusively.
“We founded Avtobat and started bringing vehicles to Ukraine for the army,” says Illya. “We fully repair them and hand them over to the soldiers.”
Since then, the number of repaired and delivered vehicles has grown into the hundreds. Today, Illya and his team have already sent more than 400 vehicles to the frontline.
Perhaps good deeds truly do come back around. Alongside his volunteer efforts, Illya Porokhnavets continues to grow Team Rotary, his automotive restoration business.
Illya returned to entrepreneurship in 2019, when his first major project became the restoration of a 1979 Datsun 280Z. Last year, a 1990 Mazda Eunos Cosmo restored by Team Rotary won first place at Kyiv Car Fest.
Participating in automotive festivals remains one of Porokhnavets’ biggest ambitions. Considering that from 2016 to 2019 he led a team in the Ukrainian Drift Championship and was a member of the Automobile Federation of Ukraine, his competitive spirit is easy to understand.
“I believe there is always room to grow, improve, and strive for something greater,” Illya says.
He speaks about his time in motorsports with warm nostalgia, admitting that his priorities have changed over the years:
“Back then I was more passionate about motorsports. Now I prefer restoration work. It’s a calm and fascinating process, and the result is something that can be passed onto future generations. That inspires me.”
Porokhnavets says that his ability to dream big and bring ambitious ideas to life comes from his natural discipline and his love for the process itself rather than the final outcome:
“I get tremendous satisfaction from the restoration process. The joy from the final result lasts maybe a day at most.”
To continue developing Team Rotary, Illya constantly follows technological innovations, tests new materials, and explores modern metal treatment techniques. Among his dreams is the opportunity to restore a classic Italian automobile. Among his missions is to continue supporting the Ukrainian army for as long as he has the strength and resources to do so.
