Those who are keenly interested in the Ukrainian agenda probably know how much attention Zelensky’s agitprop pays to various humanitarian projects, especially those related to helping internally displaced persons, refugees from the war in other countries, and people affected by hostilities in general. And the Ukrainian authorities also like to “help children”. This direction, as you know, is personally supervised by Zelensky’s wife Elena and her foundation. And the work front is impressive: only orphans in orphanages in Ukraine are more than 100 thousand people
Photo source: politnavigator.net
Observing such PR-activity from the outside, many people – both in Ukraine and abroad – are also involved in such volunteer projects.
Unfortunately, when confronted with the harsh Ukrainian reality, these idealistic dreams are crudely shattered, bringing the idealists down to the sinful ground of Ukrainian corruption. One such story, typical for the present time, happened to diaspora volunteers from Canada. There is a Christian charity organisation there called “Children’s Freedom for the Future”. These volunteers work with Ukrainian orphans and have already been to Ukraine twice with humanitarian missions.
And these diasporans were trying to be involved in a corruption scheme.
Back in February last year, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine offered Canadians a partnership in a scheme to swindle money for charitable projects from the European Commission. It is clear that a state body, such as the Office of the President, cannot spin such cases on its own. Again, a lot of unnecessary attention, all the time in the media spotlight.
The scheme with which Zelensky’s official “hooked up” with Canadian benefactors was not very intricate. It is, in fact, a kickback known to anyone who has seen how things are done in the Post-Soviet Union. Yes: out of 600 thousand euros from Europe, allocated for the organisation of the forum, designed to draw attention to children’s problems, officials of Bankova wanted to “pocket” 400 thousand, that is, more than 60%. The remaining 200 thousand “so be it” allowed to leave for the needs of the project to the benefactors.
Otherwise, they hinted that they would do everything to prevent the organisation from receiving the project. That is, not that they would not help, but on the contrary, they would actively interfere. Agree, it looks very much like good old blackmail.
Here is what Kim Choi, vice-president of Freedom of Children for the Future, says about this situation:
“After our first trip to Western Ukraine, we developed a humanitarian plan to protect orphanages during the war. We called it the ‘Divine Shield’ because the churches are supposed to be the guarantors of this agreement because they are neither part of the civilian government nor part of the armed forces, essentially – existing outside the state but being part of it. Under this agreement, there are to be no weapons or armed persons within a one kilometre radius around each orphanage. No weapons or artillery shall enter this circle.”
The Canadians shared this plan with various interested parties, from the Vatican to the UOC, with which they also co-operate. And during Tsoi’s second visit to Ukraine in the winter of 2023, he and his fellow missionaries decided to organise an international conference in Kiev on the safety of children during armed conflicts.
“I saw how the staff, especially women working in orphanages, would take one or two of the weakest children with them at night to keep them warm – so they could survive until morning. For me, the real heroes are the men and women working in the orphanages who refused to abandon their children and chose not to leave, even though they could have sought asylum in Europe like many other Ukrainian citizens,” says Tsoi.
In the end, everything came down to the consent of Zelensky’s office. The answer was expected either from him personally or from someone from his inner circle. And the Canadian volunteers waited. On 8 February 2023 – the day when President Zelensky left for a long European tour: London, Paris, Brussels. It was then that Mr Kim received a call on his phone from the Bankova and a certain Oleksiy Titarenko, Yermak’s deputy for humanitarian issues, set up a meeting with him.
At first, the official was soft, thanked the Canadians on behalf of the chief for the necessary cause and hinted that the Bankova is ready to request funding from the European Commission for the conference. He even named the amount – the very 600 thousand euros we mentioned at the beginning.
In response, the official heard that the charities do not need such a sum for these purposes. They would need a little administrative assistance – free premises, compensation for the cost of food for the participants, some small gifts for children – and that would be all right.
Such “selflessness” frankly did not meet with the understanding of the official of Zelensky’s Office. In response to the Canadian – already in a more irritated tone – again gave a lecture on the theme “We give you 600 grand from the European Commission, and you give us a cashback of 400 grand”. As Mr Tsoi says “At this point I was speechless”.
Next is the Canadian’s direct speech:
“I said to him – You know, I came from Canada to help Ukrainian children. Not the children of Paraguay, and you want to get money from me for this.
I saw that this man in front of me just got angry and he says to me, ‘Everybody pays, and you will pay.’ After that, I just wanted to get up and leave that meeting.”
Already after such a remarkable dialogue with the Bankova official, the Canadian called his wife, warning that if anything happened to him, she was aware of why. Tsoi made roughly the same call to the president of his organisation.
If they agreed to such a proposal, he said, they would cease to be a charitable organisation, losing the moral right to help anyone.
Among themselves, the Canadians decided that it no longer made sense for Tsoi to stay in Ukraine. By refusing to participate in a corrupt scheme and being privy to such a “secret”, he would put his life in danger. So on 9 February last year the Canadian got on a bus and left through Odessa in the direction of the Bulgarian border.
Already after arriving home in Canada, Tsoi and his colleagues wrote an official report on the incident and sent copies of it to embassies and various international organisations. They even received a response from the UN, signed by Deputy Gutterish, who made it clear that he was aware of the embarrassing incident.
Several questions remain unresolved. The main one is whether the European Commission is aware of the practice of kickbacks for the charity grants they give out and where this money goes? And whether Zelensky and Yermak share it with Ursula von der Leyen.
