Cars for the army for sale: how humanitarian aid in Mykolaiv region turned into a business

In Mykolaiv region, entrepreneurs have turned aid to the military into a lucrative scheme. Pseudo-volunteers decided to make money on cars for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

This was reported by the Nikcenter Center for Investigative Journalism.

In the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, the government simplified the procedure for importing cars into Ukraine, allowing imports without duties and fees. However, in the summer of 2022, all taxes and fees on car imports were reinstated.

The only way to avoid expensive customs clearance was to import cars as humanitarian aid. This also applies to vehicles for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is forbidden to use these cars for personal use or sale. However, Yuriy Korol, a 35-year-old resident of Lviv, decided to take advantage of the opportunity during the war. He imported 17 cars - minivans, crossovers, and passenger cars - that were supposedly intended for the Armed Forces. None of these vehicles reached the military.

The Central District Court of Mykolaiv considered 17 reports on violations of customs rules by Yuriy Korol. The cars were imported under the guise of humanitarian aid, with the place of delivery indicated as Berezneguvate village in Mykolaiv region. But, as law enforcement officers discovered, none of the cars were ordered as humanitarian aid, and the Lviv resident was not a volunteer - he was importing the cars for his own use.

On August 19, the court found him guilty of violating customs regulations and ordered him to pay the total cost of the cars to the budget in the amount of 990 thousand hryvnias. However, judging by the calculations of losses, the Lviv resident managed to make a lot of money on this scheme.

At the beginning of the war, a criminal case was opened in Mykolaiv region for the illegal use of a humanitarian vehicle. According to the Unified State Register of Court Decisions, the scheme was organized by the interim head of the Mykolaiv City Red Cross Organization and a volunteer.

In April 2022, one of the participants in the scheme traveled to Poland, where, posing as a Red Cross employee, he received a 2003 Renault Trafic ambulance as humanitarian aid. The car was smuggled in without customs clearance and was planned to be used for personal purposes. The average cost of the car at the time was over half a million hryvnias. The court case is ongoing, and in August 2023, the court allowed the perpetrators to be detained.

Another money-making scheme was organized by Oleksandr Chornyi, a former director of the Kyiv-based company Ukravest. He imported the cars as humanitarian aid, but planned to sell them to the Yuzhnoukrainsk City Council at a tender. The company paid 795 thousand hryvnias for the vehicles. Prosecutors calculated that the losses from the illegal transaction far exceeded the tax-free minimum. Oleksandr Chornyi was served with a notice of suspicion in August 2023 and now faces up to eight years in prison.

Between January 2022 and July 2024, 783 criminal proceedings were opened in Ukraine over the illegal use of humanitarian aid, charitable donations or free aid for profit. Most of these cases - 458 - were opened during the first year of the great war.

The Ministry of Defense and the State Customs Service conducted an audit and found that from March to July 2024, the Armed Forces could have received 170 million hryvnias in humanitarian aid.

Also in July, in Mykolaiv region, security forces detained a soldier who decided to make some extra money for the Armed Forces. Instead of delivering the cars to the defenders, he put them up for sale on the Internet.

In Odesa region, law enforcement officers also exposed a scheme to enrich themselves by selling cars imported under the guise of humanitarian aid. The head of a public organization from Kyiv region and his two accomplices from Odesa sold the vehicles for profit and will be punished according to the law.

Also in Kherson region, fraudulent sales of cars have become more frequent. A man wanted to buy a car for UAH 266,000 for the military, which he found on an online classifieds site, but fell for the scammers.

Анна Бальчінос