You're reading: Businesses help Ukrainian army, those affected by Russia’s war

For some businesses, corporate social responsibility means helping those affected by Russia’s war in the east.

And as the state was either unable or unwilling to provide the necessary support to the Ukrainian army and citizens, businesses played a vital role in 2014–2015 in defending the country from Russia’s military invasion.

Today, businesses continue to help, but on a smaller scale.

“The army did not exist four years ago — there was no military uniform, no food, nothing,” said Oleg Polischuk, founder of a support group for soldiers and director of the prevention and counteraction to corruption department at Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned national nuclear power company.
“Guys were asking simply to bring them sneakers,” he said.

By the end of 2017, Ukrainian soldiers started to have their basics covered as a result of government reforms. “If earlier they did not have enough food, now (some) eat salmon in tomato sauce and smoked ham,” said Oleksandr Makhno, deputy director of logistics and technical support at Energoatom.
“Engineering, optical equipment, weapons are all at a completely different level.”

And yet, more than 10,300 people were already killed as a result of the armed conflict, of whom roughly a third were civilians and almost 24,000 more were wounded, according to the United Nations.

And while the army’s basics are finally covered, the humanitarian crisis in the Donbas region still remains acute: around 40,000 civilian houses were damaged or destroyed. While some 4.4 million people continue to live in the Russian-occupied territory, more than 1 million have been internally displaced.

Understanding the needs

Polischuk’s first trip as part of Energoatom’s corporate social responsibility initiative was to the city of Izium in June 2014.

“I was shocked — there were real troops, tanks, checkpoints,” said Polischuk. “That’s where I first saw dead Ukrainian soldiers.”

After returning back from the front, fueled by what he saw there, an entire social program was made to raise money and buy everything necessary for the army.

Energoatom used its staff of 36,000 to raise Hr 1 per person on a regular basis.

“At first we traveled weekly, then several times a month with the objective to gradually improve the situation,” said Polischuk. The team would deliver everything they could: underwear, hygiene basics, night vision equipment, and even cars.

“10 cars were delivered. We bought them from the Baltic countries or Poland, took off the plates and delivered them to the front,” said Polischuk.

For the entire period, Energoatom raised Hr 5 million from its staff to help soldiers, or some $200,000.

However, it’s becoming harder to collect money to help the Ukrainian army at Energoatom — the $10,000 raised for one trip in 2014 plunged to $4,000 raised today, according to Makhno.

The demand from the army has also changed during the war — now soldiers mostly ask for specific electronics that the state can’t provide in time, car parts, or home cooking.

“We brought them eight laptops allowing them to handle intelligence data,” said Makhno.

Supporting veterans and children

Nova Poshta, Ukrainian e-commerce shipping company, has also been supporting those affected by the war since 2014. It has been helping volunteer organizations to send tons of goods to the war zone for free.

Most of the shipments went to the front, as well as to orphanages, military hospitals and forced migrants, according to Lilia Zagrebelna, head of Nova Poshta’s social initiatives program.

In 2015 — its peak year — some 37,000 shipments were delivered with a total weight of nearly 8,000 tons, according to Zagrebelna. Among the main categories of goods were warm clothes, shoes, food and heating equipment.

But this is not the only way in which the company assists Ukrainian soldiers.

For four years in a row, together with the National Institute of Surgery and Transplantology, Nova Poshta has been helping to rehabilitate war veterans. It has donated medical equipment costing Hr 2.4 million, or $85,000. More than 2,000 soldiers have already been assisted, according to Zagrebelna.

Nova Poshta has helped volunteers send aid for free to Ukrainian soldiers and locals near the front line since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014. (Courtesy of Nova Poshta)

Coca-Cola

Some foreign companies also expressed their desire to help the country’s war-torn Donbas.

In cooperation with UNISEF and Red Cross, international beverage giant Coca-Cola helps to deliver products to the occupied territories. For example, in 2014 the company provided transport for UNISEF and 6,000 liters of drinking water for forced migrants.

In 2017, when the conflict escalated in Avdiyivka, a city of 35,000 people, the company supplied 8,000 liters of drinking water, according to Andriy Bublyk, communication director at Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine.

But some of the most vulnerable are children at the eastern border.

And four years ago Coca-Cola started a program to assist a social rehabilitation center for children called Smaragdove Misto (Emerald city) in the city of Svyatogirsk in Donetsk Oblast. The center shelters about 500 children.

“The first time I came there was in October 2014, and there were frozen puddles and children walked in slippers or their bare feet,” said Bublyk. “Now the situation is much better.”

During the first year, the company organized 12 charitable trucks delivering clothes, shoes, medication, and water. This project began to develop rapidly and today it covers 15 boarding schools across the country, located not only at the occupied territory. Bublyk would not disclose the total amount contributed.

Medical support

Other companies provide medical assistance to Ukrainian soldiers, the elderly, and veterans.
During 2015–2018, Ukrainian pharmaceutical giant Darnitsa donated medication worth Hr 12.7 million, or $470,000, according to Oksana Pyrozhok, head of corporate communications department at Darnitsa.

Darnitsa, co-owned by member of parliament Glib Zagoriy, had a net profit of Hr 342.1 million, or $12.7 million, in 2017, according to the company’s financial report.