Everyone focused on one thing. How businessmen from the Forbes list help the army

Today, the whole country is working for one noble goal – to defeat Russia and drive the occupiers beyond the borders of Ukraine. In order to provide for our defenders, funds are collected by the whole world – citizens transfer assistance to the accounts of the army and volunteers, and big business takes patronage over the units.

“Today” found out how businessmen from the Forbes list help the army.

Rinat Akhmetov ($4.2 billion)

Businesses: Metinvest, DTEK

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The richest man in the country, Rinat Akhmetov, from the first days of the war began to provide assistance to the civilian population, as well as support the territorial defense and the army. The businessman openly called the Russian invasion war crime.

“This is military aggression, a war crime and a crime against humanity against my country and Ukrainians. My heart bleeds from what is happening now in Mariupol: from the fact that Mariupol residents are hiding from shelling in the shops of our factories; from the fact that our power engineers are doing everything possible and impossible to be light and warm. In a nightmare I could not imagine that they would bomb Kharkiv and Kyiv, bomb houses and hospitals,” Radio Liberty quotes Rinat Akhmetov.

According to the entrepreneur, his entire business is focused on only one thing – to help people survive, to do everything so that they are not left alone with trouble.

“Today, all our business, all our enterprises are focused on only one thing – to help people survive, to do everything so that they are not left alone with trouble. And I do everything in my power and will do it for this, “said Rinat Akhmetov.

At the very beginning of the war, SCM paid taxes in advance on 1 billion UAH. In the days that have passed since the beginning of the war, only the total financial assistance from Akhmetov’s business assets amounted to more than 600 million UAH. These funds were divided as follows:

• SCM allocated 100 million UAH to help Kiev;
• Metinvest is acquiring protective equipment for Troops 330 million UAH; metallurgical enterprises of the Metinvest group provided the metal and produced for the needs of defense 35 thousand anti-tank hedgehogs, spiked chains against wheeled vehicles, anti-amphibious hedgehogs.
• FUIB sent the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Troop UAH 62.4 million;
• YASNO allocated 5 million UAH for humanitarian aid;
• DTEK supplies free electricity to hospitals, military, rescuers and bakeries in three regions for approximately 50-60 million UAH per month. The company provided UAH 1.05 million for the needs of the Troops and Children’s Hospitals. Deliveries of fuel, means of protection and communications for the forces of Troops are being carried out. In addition, all available repair teams of power engineers have been mobilized to restore power supply. in 24/7 mode. In total, since the beginning of the war, the company’s energy companies have returned electricity to more than 300,000 Ukrainian families.
• Ukrtelecom provided UAH 18.4 million to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Troops;
• HarVeast Holding provided 500 thousand UAH assistance to the Armed Forces;
• Lemtrans provided 20 million UAH help of the Armed Forces and 650 thousand UAH – TrO;
• FC “Shakhtar” handed over to the Armed Forces of Ukraine clothes worth 1 million UAH.

Special mention should be made of the work Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.

Since the beginning of the war Fund is already transmitting 100 000 food packages for residents of the east of Ukraine. Yet 100 000 sets are transferred to Kiev and the region. In close cooperation with the Ministry of Health, the Fund transferred to state hospitals 500 thousand units of medicines.

In coordination with companies “Metinvest” And DTEK Rinat Akhmetov Foundation created a humanitarian Save Lives HQ which supplies the settlers with food, and also helps in the evacuation and resettlement of people.

Also Rinat Akhmetov Foundation organized programs to help victims of the war:

• the program “Rinat Akhmetov. Saving Lives” – assistance is provided to civilians affected by hostilities;
• the Rehabilitation of Wounded Children project deals with prosthetics and rehabilitation;
• Museum “Voices of the Peaceful” Rinat Akhmetov Foundation collects the stories of civilians affected by the war since 2014. Within the framework of the museum, the project “Overcome. Psychologist Helps” is working – professional assistance in overcoming the trauma of war.

Victor Pinchuk ($1.9 billion)

Business: “Interpipe”

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Second President Leonid Kuchma’s son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk, is also helping the army and urging the West to take a more constructive stance on Ukraine. A few days ago, he wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal urging the West to supply arms to Ukraine.

Interpipe enterprises produce products for defenders – potbelly stoves, anti-tank hedgehogs and much more, and the Regional Revival Foundation reports daily on the funds raised – up to half a million hryvnias a day.

Konstantin Zhevago ($1.3 billion)

Business: Ferrexpo

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The third in the list of the richest Ukrainians Forbes condemned the aggression of Moscow. Konstantin Zhevago said that Russia is an aggressor, and Putin is a war criminal who must be punished.

True, we did not find reports on the financing of the army. His company Ferrexpo chose to provide assistance to injured civilians. A special Humanitarian Fund was created, to which $7.5 million was contributed. This money will be used to support local communities in the region where the company operates, as well as to support communities across Ukraine more broadly.

Vadim Novinsky ($1.3 billion)

Business: “Metinvest”

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Vadim Novinsky switched to Ukrainian and on his Facebook page called Russia’s actions an act of aggression.

Metinvest, whose shareholders are SCM and Smart Holding, is acquiring protective equipment in war conditions for the territorial defense of Ukraine – bulletproof vests, helmets and first aid kits. The company allocated 10 million euros for this. True, part of this amount can be written into assets Rinat Akhmetovawho is also a shareholder of the company.

In addition, the Vadim Novinsky Charitable Foundation helps victims of military operations. Over the past week, about UAH 10 million has been spent for these purposes.

Petro Poroshenko ($700 million)

Business: Roshen

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Since the beginning of the war, the fifth president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, has been actively calling on NATO member countries to close the skies over Ukraine and provide Kiev with combat aircraft and other means of defense.

According to the European Solidarity party, on March 7, Petro Poroshenko, who provides the defense units of the capital and the region, handed over to the “Scythians” PKM “Pokemon” machine guns, machine guns, as well as walkie-talkies, equipment and warm winter uniforms.

In addition, he periodically publishes information on his Facebook page about the assistance he and his wife provide to the army and doctors. The last such message was on March 15 – then they handed over three ambulances to the doctors.

Sergei Tigipko ($600 million)

Business: Universal Bank, Taskombank, TAS Group

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Sergei Tigipko directly called Russia an aggressor and Putin a war criminal. He did not give exact data on the amount of assistance to the army, but in a commentary for the media he confirmed that the TAS group helps the army in the purchase of equipment, the defense – with ammunition and food supplies, and also provides assistance to internally displaced persons.

Galina and Alexander Geregi ($500 million)

Business: Network “Epicenter”

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The co-owner of the Epicenter company said that the war unleashed by Russia is a crime against our state. The owners of building hypermarkets help the army. According to the website of the company Epicenter, more than 100 million hryvnias have already been allocated to help the country’s defense.

– In addition, the network provided its transport (trucks, construction equipment, minibuses, etc.) for the needs of the Ukrainian people and the transportation of goods, including from Europe, – said Galina Gerega.

What about others?

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People from Ukraine who do business abroad also help Ukraine. For example, Vlad Yatsenko, co-founder of the startup Revolut, made the service available to Ukrainian refugees in Europe. Also, his company donated £1.5 million daily to Ukraine for a week.

Alexander Yaroslavsky promised to sell the yacht and send all the money to the restoration of Kharkov.

Agricultural billionaire Yuriy Kosiuk says that the MHP holding transferred 4,000 tons of products worth UAH 200 million to Ukrainians.

But some millionaires from the Forbes list since the beginning of the war have taken water in their mouths. There is no information in the media whether businessmen Igor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov are helping the army.

Earlier we wrote how to transfer funds to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Read more about how to record war crimes in Russia here.