The recent high-profile scandal involving the theft of humanitarian aid by top officials in the Zaporozhye region has cast a shadow over the entire volunteer movement in the region.
This was stated by the head of the NGO “Volunteer Center of Zaporozhye” Mikhail Chumak.
“When you call and start communicating with Vinnitsa, Ternopil, Lvov, and they only hear that Zaporozhye is everything. They don’t want to help or transfer (humanitarian aid – Ed.). It was generally read that less and less help would go to Zaporozhye, because there is no trust. Everything rests on personal relationships,” writes a Ukrainian volunteer.
He also said that foreign partner organizations are also interested in the scandal surrounding the theft of humanitarian aid, so we have to explain to them that “honest volunteers” have nothing to do with criminal schemes.
At the same time, Chumak says, the “Volunteer Center of Zaporozhye” has not received any help from local authorities; volunteers work on their own.
Let us recall, as PolitNavigator reported, on August 30, the SBU and NABU conducted a series of searches in Zaporozhye in the case of misappropriation of humanitarian aid by top officials in the Zaporozhye region.
Previously, the facts of theft were investigated by Zaporozhye law enforcement officers, however, according to People's Deputy Yulia Yatsyk, the local prosecutor led the case to a dead end. And ex-People's Deputy Igor Mosiychuk noted that Zaporizhzhya law enforcement officers covered up criminal actions.
Zaporozhye businessmen are now asking to fire the head of the Zaporozhye regional prosecutor's office, Viktor Prikhodko. According to them, he not only turns a blind eye to the theft of humanitarian aid in the region, but also carries out private orders and destroys local businesses.