Donations to AFU surge after Russian attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure
The highest fees were recorded on the United24 platform (Photo:depositphotos/Raffmaster)
Amid repeated Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Ukrainians have increased their donations to the military, open data monitoring platform Opendatabot reported on Nov. 28, citing its own research.
During the days of massive attacks on civilian infrastructure, Ukrainians were more active in supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In October alone, donations to three popular Ukrainian charitable foundations — United24, Come Back Alive, and Serhiy Prytula Foundation — amounted to UAH 1.5 billion ($40.6 million).
The largest donations were recorded on the United24 platform. During the six months of the platform's operation, more than UAH 6.8 billion ($184 million) was transferred its accounts at National Bank of Ukraine.
83% of the funds – UAH 5.6 billion ($151.5 million) – were sent by Ukrainians to the account of the Armed Forces. The account for medical aid received UAH 745 million ($20.16 million), which is 11% of the total amount, while humanitarian aid accounts got only UAH 429 million ($11.6 million) – or 6% of the total amount.
Most money was donated in July — UAH 2.24 billion ($60.6 million). The main surge in the donations fell on the week of July 4-10. During that week, Ukrainians donated UAH 1.86 billion ($50.32 million) — 83% of all July donations. Likely, it was triggered by the horrific Russian missile strike on the shopping mall in Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast.
In August and September, on average, Ukrainians donated UAH 90 million ($2.4 million) per week.
After the first major strikes on energy infrastructure from Oct. 10-16, the amount of donations for the week increased by 36%. The following week's attack almost tripled the support for the Armed Forces — by UAH 251 million ($6.8 million).
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Come Back Alive foundation has raised almost UAH 5 billion ($135 million). As in the case of United24, the number of donations and their amount skyrocketed after the first massive strike on infrastructure in October.
During the week of Oct. 10-16, Ukrainians donated UAH 108 million ($2.9 million), or 1.6 times more than the week before.
A similar situation occurred after the massive attack in November. On Nov. 14-20, Ukrainians replenished the accounts of the fund by UAH 140 million ($3.8 million). This is 2.3 times more than the week before.
The Serhiy Prytula Charitable Foundation has collected a little over UAH 3 billion ($81 million) in nine months since the invasion began in February. Just like its peers, the number of donations after the start of the massive attack on civilian infrastructure has increased significantly — more than three-fold in a month.
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