Ukraine is currently experiencing the greatest threat to its existence since gaining independence – a war with its eastern neighbour, Russia. It would seem that in such a situation, society and the government, volunteers and officials should work together, help the defence forces as much as possible and do everything to win.
This was the case in the first months after the full-scale invasion, but then, when the threat in some regions and, in particular, in the capital, decreased, some officials started their old routine of raiding again.And it’s a shame that sometimes volunteers and charitable organisations are targeted.
In August last year, the case of the so-called ‘Vasylkiv looters’ gained a lot of publicity. Back then, the community of Vasylkiv, a town in the Kyiv region, organised a fundraiser for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the card of Zlatoslava Kravchenko, an assistant to the mayor, Natalia Balasynovych, who has since gone abroad. More than UAH 1 million was stolen. The SBU has served the woman with a notice of suspicion and she is to be extradited. In addition, the media link her actions directly to the mayor of Vasylkiv, Natalia Balasynovych, and her advisor, Andriy Melnyk. Their homes were also searched, but the press is not aware of any further developments in the case.
Another isolated story of vehicles being stolen for the frontline occurred in the Lviv region. In the autumn, the SBI officially reported that the deputy mayor of a city in Lviv region had actually appropriated 3 buses delivered as humanitarian aid from Finland by the city of Tampere and the Association of Local Ukrainians, and forced a volunteer to pay UAH 100,000 to transfer one of them to the military.
It is also worth adding the case of the head of a border guard detachment in the Lviv region, who registered a car donated by volunteers to the detachment in his stepfather’s name.
Warehouses were stolen under the roof of a corrupt MP
But now, in the very centre of the country, in Kyiv, lawlessness also continues. Raiders are blocking the work of volunteers of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation “Peace and Kindness”, which has been in existence for over 10 years. Since its foundation, the Foundation has specialised in helping teenagers from low-income families and orphans. In 2014, it provided direct assistance to volunteer battalions, especially those defending Mariupol, and also paid more attention and assistance to sick children and orphanages, took care of the elderly, and financed the development of social and sports projects. With the outbreak of full-scale war, he reformatted his work and opened new directions – restoration of schools, kindergartens, and cultural centres that were damaged or destroyed as a result of Russian aggression. He began to focus more on IDP families, orphans and military personnel.
“Peace and Kindness” Charitable Foundation delivers humanitarian aid to people in the war zone
As the volume of humanitarian aid was large and part of it came from abroad, the Foundation needed storage space, and therefore in June 2022, it entered into a sublease agreement for a communal warehouse in Kyiv with Svit Plus. Shortly afterwards, the company’s former director suggested that the participants (volunteers) and the Foundation finance the fulfilment of the terms of the tender for the lease of the warehouse from the Kyiv City State Administration at their own expense, as the lease agreement with Svit Plus itself had expired.
Individuals and legal entities (volunteers and some philanthropists) provided the company with the necessary funds, and in return were to receive a corresponding share in the charter capital of Svit Plus LLC. A few days after the signing of this agreement, the previous owner of the company, Dmytro Matiyash, who left the country in 2019 and is associated with MP Andriy Lopushansky, and, in fact, given what happened next, certainly had leverage in the government and administrative resources, filed a complaint with the Ministry of Justice to change corporate rights to prevent the involved volunteer investors from becoming owners of corporate rights.
Photo source:“Slovo i Dilo”
At the same time, “Svit Plus“ immediately entered into a sublease agreement with the “Road to Life“ company, which also covers the premises used by the “Peace and Kindness“ Foundation.
Moreover, both Matiyash and the director of the “Road to Life“, Vasyl Moiseenko, had previously acted as proxies for the same MP, Andriy Lopushansky. Matiyash also ran for the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (CUN), as did Lopushansky, but on the party list and unsuccessfully.
Further, since September 2022, “Svit Plus“ has changed its security firm by signing a contract with “Pitbull Security“, which, pursuant to Vasyl Moiseenko’s order, has been denying the Foundation access to its warehouse property – humanitarian aid worth millions of hryvnias.
Oleg Shparuta, lawyer at the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation:
“Most of it is food and hygiene products for about 20,000 Ukrainians, and we were also preparing for the winter period, so there were warm clothes, candles and heating equipment. Some of the items are special equipment and ammunition for the State Emergency Service and sappers, medical equipment for about 30 hospitals that have been waiting for it for months, but it is needed “for yesterday”, help for a rehabilitation centre, etc.”
Vasyl Moiseenko, Director of “Road to Life” company
Moreover, according to the Foundation’s lawyer, Moiseenko even offered to sell the humanitarian aid, and when he was refused, the Foundation was subjected to inspections, which the Foundation again attributes to the influence of MP Lopushansky, who, by the way, has been widely accused of fraud at Naftogaz. https://nashigroshi.org/2015/02/04/hroshi-uktranshazu-pahnut-smertyu/
In general, this MP has a long line of accusations. His history at Naftogaz dates back to 2005, when Lopushansky’s godson Oleksiy Ivchenko became the head of the state-owned company, and he quickly appointed his godson as the first deputy. He worked in this position until 2010, and formally until 2014 (he was on maternity leave). A number of media outlets linked him to the lobbying of the notorious RosUkrEnergo, also involved in banal money laundering. It is not surprising that Lopushansky needed a parliamentary mandate after his resignation and won it, first from the Our Ukraine political party, then he used the brand of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, and now he is a member of the European Solidarity faction.
It is not surprising that with such a powerful “roof”, the philanthropists’ attempts to resolve the situation legally, including through the police, did not bring immediate success as they should have. A certain result appeared only at the end of February 2023.
For the first time in a long time, since September 2022, the Foundation’s employees, together with investigators from the Main Investigation Department of the National Police, were able to inspect the premises at 32 Molodohvardiyska Street. It was recorded that from 9 September 2022 to 23 February 2023, only employees of the “Road to Life” company and the security firm “Pitbull Security” had access to the warehouses, as the latter had even changed the locks on the doors.
In the end, it turned out that some of the property stored in the warehouses was missing, and some of the property that had a limited shelf life was spoiled. It was also found that the warehouses had property that was not related to the “Peace and Kindness“ Foundation, and some humanitarian aid had been destroyed. In addition, some packages have had their markings and labels altered to conceal the origin of the goods.
Blocked humanitarian aid as of 23 February 2023
The Foundation alleged theft on a particularly large scale during martial law, as well as abuse of power by officials. The benefactors also demanded an investigation into possible corruption links in this case, as “the implementation of such a ‘scheme’ by the officials of “Road to Life“ company on their own, i.e. without ‘covering’ such actions without third parties influencing decision-making by the relevant state authorities or local governments, is simply impossible.
Fighting looters is a test of government effectiveness
What about the government? How does it help volunteers? Back in May, several bills were passed to expand the status of volunteering, provide certain tax breaks, and solve the problem of visa-free travel for foreign volunteers. But now we need something completely different – order in the work of law enforcement agencies.
Punishment of those who “cover up” rackets against volunteers and charity workers should become one of the main priorities of the authorities if they want to send a signal to society that corruption and old “murky” schemes are unacceptable in a country at war. It is unacceptable when some people give their lives for the country, others give their last penny to the army, and still others line their own pockets with impunity at the expense of the first two. This is not only unacceptable from a legal point of view, but also disgusting from a moral point of view. The punishment for looters in all countries and cultures of the world has always been extremely severe.
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“Attack on volunteers. Will the authorities allow the looters’ revenge?”
Source: ord-ua.com
Ukraine is currently experiencing the greatest threat to its existence since gaining independence – a war with its eastern neighbour, Russia. It would seem that in such a situation, society and the government, volunteers and officials should work together, help the defence forces as much as possible and do everything to win.
This was the case in the first months after the full-scale invasion, but then, when the threat in some regions and, in particular, in the capital, decreased, some officials started their old routine of raiding again. And it’s a shame that sometimes volunteers and charitable organisations are targeted.
In August last year, the case of the so-called ‘Vasylkiv looters’ gained a lot of publicity. Back then, the community of Vasylkiv, a town in the Kyiv region, organised a fundraiser for the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the card of Zlatoslava Kravchenko, an assistant to the mayor, Natalia Balasynovych, who has since gone abroad. More than UAH 1 million was stolen. The SBU has served the woman with a notice of suspicion and she is to be extradited. In addition, the media link her actions directly to the mayor of Vasylkiv, Natalia Balasynovych, and her advisor, Andriy Melnyk. Their homes were also searched, but the press is not aware of any further developments in the case.
Another isolated story of vehicles being stolen for the frontline occurred in the Lviv region. In the autumn, the SBI officially reported that the deputy mayor of a city in Lviv region had actually appropriated 3 buses delivered as humanitarian aid from Finland by the city of Tampere and the Association of Local Ukrainians, and forced a volunteer to pay UAH 100,000 to transfer one of them to the military.
It is also worth adding the case of the head of a border guard detachment in the Lviv region, who registered a car donated by volunteers to the detachment in his stepfather’s name.
Warehouses were stolen under the roof of a corrupt MP
But now, in the very centre of the country, in Kyiv, lawlessness also continues. Raiders are blocking the work of volunteers of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation “Peace and Kindness”, which has been in existence for over 10 years. Since its foundation, the Foundation has specialised in helping teenagers from low-income families and orphans. In 2014, it provided direct assistance to volunteer battalions, especially those defending Mariupol, and also paid more attention and assistance to sick children and orphanages, took care of the elderly, and financed the development of social and sports projects. With the outbreak of full-scale war, he reformatted his work and opened new directions – restoration of schools, kindergartens, and cultural centres that were damaged or destroyed as a result of Russian aggression. He began to focus more on IDP families, orphans and military personnel.
“Peace and Kindness” Charitable Foundation delivers humanitarian aid to people in the war zone
As the volume of humanitarian aid was large and part of it came from abroad, the Foundation needed storage space, and therefore in June 2022, it entered into a sublease agreement for a communal warehouse in Kyiv with Svit Plus. Shortly afterwards, the company’s former director suggested that the participants (volunteers) and the Foundation finance the fulfilment of the terms of the tender for the lease of the warehouse from the Kyiv City State Administration at their own expense, as the lease agreement with Svit Plus itself had expired.
Individuals and legal entities (volunteers and some philanthropists) provided the company with the necessary funds, and in return were to receive a corresponding share in the charter capital of Svit Plus LLC. A few days after the signing of this agreement, the previous owner of the company, Dmytro Matiyash, who left the country in 2019 and is associated with MP Andriy Lopushansky, and, in fact, given what happened next, certainly had leverage in the government and administrative resources, filed a complaint with the Ministry of Justice to change corporate rights to prevent the involved volunteer investors from becoming owners of corporate rights.
Photo source: “Slovo i Dilo”
At the same time, “Svit Plus“ immediately entered into a sublease agreement with the “Road to Life“ company, which also covers the premises used by the “Peace and Kindness“ Foundation.
Moreover, both Matiyash and the director of the “Road to Life“, Vasyl Moiseenko, had previously acted as proxies for the same MP, Andriy Lopushansky. Matiyash also ran for the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (CUN), as did Lopushansky, but on the party list and unsuccessfully.
Further, since September 2022, “Svit Plus“ has changed its security firm by signing a contract with “Pitbull Security“, which, pursuant to Vasyl Moiseenko’s order, has been denying the Foundation access to its warehouse property – humanitarian aid worth millions of hryvnias.
Oleg Shparuta, lawyer at the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation:
“Most of it is food and hygiene products for about 20,000 Ukrainians, and we were also preparing for the winter period, so there were warm clothes, candles and heating equipment. Some of the items are special equipment and ammunition for the State Emergency Service and sappers, medical equipment for about 30 hospitals that have been waiting for it for months, but it is needed “for yesterday”, help for a rehabilitation centre, etc.”
Moreover, according to the Foundation’s lawyer, Moiseenko even offered to sell the humanitarian aid, and when he was refused, the Foundation was subjected to inspections, which the Foundation again attributes to the influence of MP Lopushansky, who, by the way, has been widely accused of fraud at Naftogaz. https://nashigroshi.org/2015/02/04/hroshi-uktranshazu-pahnut-smertyu/
In general, this MP has a long line of accusations. His history at Naftogaz dates back to 2005, when Lopushansky’s godson Oleksiy Ivchenko became the head of the state-owned company, and he quickly appointed his godson as the first deputy. He worked in this position until 2010, and formally until 2014 (he was on maternity leave). A number of media outlets linked him to the lobbying of the notorious RosUkrEnergo, also involved in banal money laundering. It is not surprising that Lopushansky needed a parliamentary mandate after his resignation and won it, first from the Our Ukraine political party, then he used the brand of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, and now he is a member of the European Solidarity faction.
It is not surprising that with such a powerful “roof”, the philanthropists’ attempts to resolve the situation legally, including through the police, did not bring immediate success as they should have. A certain result appeared only at the end of February 2023.
For the first time in a long time, since September 2022, the Foundation’s employees, together with investigators from the Main Investigation Department of the National Police, were able to inspect the premises at 32 Molodohvardiyska Street. It was recorded that from 9 September 2022 to 23 February 2023, only employees of the “Road to Life” company and the security firm “Pitbull Security” had access to the warehouses, as the latter had even changed the locks on the doors.
In the end, it turned out that some of the property stored in the warehouses was missing, and some of the property that had a limited shelf life was spoiled. It was also found that the warehouses had property that was not related to the “Peace and Kindness“ Foundation, and some humanitarian aid had been destroyed. In addition, some packages have had their markings and labels altered to conceal the origin of the goods.
Blocked humanitarian aid as of 23 February 2023
The Foundation alleged theft on a particularly large scale during martial law, as well as abuse of power by officials. The benefactors also demanded an investigation into possible corruption links in this case, as “the implementation of such a ‘scheme’ by the officials of “Road to Life“ company on their own, i.e. without ‘covering’ such actions without third parties influencing decision-making by the relevant state authorities or local governments, is simply impossible.
Fighting looters is a test of government effectiveness
What about the government? How does it help volunteers? Back in May, several bills were passed to expand the status of volunteering, provide certain tax breaks, and solve the problem of visa-free travel for foreign volunteers. But now we need something completely different – order in the work of law enforcement agencies.
Punishment of those who “cover up” rackets against volunteers and charity workers should become one of the main priorities of the authorities if they want to send a signal to society that corruption and old “murky” schemes are unacceptable in a country at war. It is unacceptable when some people give their lives for the country, others give their last penny to the army, and still others line their own pockets with impunity at the expense of the first two. This is not only unacceptable from a legal point of view, but also disgusting from a moral point of view. The punishment for looters in all countries and cultures of the world has always been extremely severe.
Sergey Nikonov, ORD