Creators based in the United States, Germany, Poland and even Ukraine have been volunteering their time and talents to support United24, Ukraine’s official fundraising platform, by recreating Ukrainian landmarks as unique Lego sets. These sets are not available for purchase and can only be purchased in a raffle by donating $24 or more to United24, with contributions going toward rebuilding destroyed structures and other relief efforts amid the war with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky created United24 as a personal initiative to attract more international aid through mass appeal fundraising projects such as football matches, art shows, music videos, celebrity ambassadors and even a Minecraft donation center featuring a virtual recreation of Ukraine’s Soledar salt mines.
According to United24 coordinator Yaroslava Gres, the name United24 comes from the initiative’s “aim to provide 24/7 assistance… supporting Ukraine” – but the number 24 still has a deeper connotation for the Ukrainians. August 24th is Ukraine’s Independence Day, also the day Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, 2022.
Gres said that United24 has raised more than US$650 million since its launch in May 2022, with donors from 110 countries who helped rebuild five hospitals, 18 residential buildings, 24 bridges and buy 240 ambulances and 659 hospital generators. Donations also helped finance defense systems against suicide drones and tens of thousands of other Ukrainian drones, as well as developing robots for the battlefield.
Amid concerns about Ukraine’s endemic government corruption, including a recent arms procurement scandal, United24’s fundraising is being secured by international accounting firm Deloitte, which has been offering its services pro bono.
Last month, the U.S. sent Ukraine $275 million in military assistance as part of a $6 billion long-term military aid package announced in late April. To date, the United States has sent a total of $175 billion to Ukraine. But according to a report by the Council on Foreign Relations, humanitarian aid accounts for just $2.9 billion of that amount. The World Bank recently estimated that total damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure and economy would amount to $152 billion between February 2022 and December 2023.
Gres further commented that 391 schools were destroyed and 3,282 damaged, requiring almost US$14 billion for reconstruction, with another US$14 billion needed to rebuild and repair medical facilities.
As the war between Russia and Ukraine approaches its 30th month in August, the world’s attention has largely been diverted to the Middle East and the upcoming US elections. United24 wants to remain focused on Ukraine’s fight for survival, a fight that is not going well – in recent months, Russia has managed to capture and recapture strategic locations, in its fastest advance since the start of the war.
Lego is, without a doubt, the best toy ever invented, but a toy is still an odd choice for a war funding campaign. Despite this, he helped support Ukraine from the beginning. In March 2022, a month after the start of the war, and again in September 2022, the Lego Foundation donated around US$30 million to help rebuild schools and other educational institutions in Ukraine, as well as providing educational assistance to refugees. Ukrainians in other countries.
In March 2022, Chicago-based toymaker Citizen Brick raised more than $145,000 for Ukraine with a custom Lego minifigure of Zelensky.
Inspiration for the Lego campaign came from these initiatives and Lego Architecture, a line of sets aimed at adults that recreate iconic landmarks. According to Gres, “If the line includes the… Eiffel Tower, the London Bridge and the Statue of Liberty… why can’t it have the Kiev Homeland Monument?”
The first wave of United24 sets, released in November 2023, is titled #LEGOWITHUKRAINE, and includes Mother Ukraine in Kyiv, the Swallow’s Nest in Crimea, and the Old Water Tower in Mariupol. The second wave, #UKRAINEinLEGObricks, was released last month and includes Kyiv’s Golden Gate, the Crimean Khan Palace, Lviv Oblast’s Pidhirtsi Castle, the Odesa National Academic Opera House, and the Mykolaiv Astronomical Observatory.
All models are made from authentic Lego bricks, although the Lego company is not affiliated with the project or the artists building the sets. Each of the five models in the second wave are available in three sets, meaning donors have the chance to win 1 of the 15 sets.
Donors can choose which of the bundle draws they want to participate in and, according to Gres, which of United24’s five goals their donation will be supporting – defense, humanitarian demining, medical aid, reconstruction of Ukraine, or education and science – although all proceeds from the second wave of donations will go toward rebuilding Velykokostromska School, a preschool and elementary school in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast that was bombed in October 2022.
Mark Segedie is an American Lego artist from Chicago and the creator of the Pidhirtsi Castle set. “This was a unique way to combine my passion for Lego with a very worthy cause – helping to rebuild a destroyed school… Thanks to this project, 250 children in Ukraine will be able to return to school,” the artist said.
It took him around 80 hours to design and build the set, after choosing the landmark he wanted to recreate, and five months to complete the project. “It was incredibly challenging to get the scale and angles of the castle right,” Mark said. “It really challenged me. I feel like I was able to expand my Lego building skills while also contributing to a great cause.”
Eric Law, another American Lego artist, created the Golden Gate set. He said he first heard about the project on a Lego fan site called The Brothers Brick and “got involved because when I saw the Golden Gate, I thought it would be an interesting build. … but after I read the story about it, I fell in love with the idea of building it.”
It took Eric a month to design it digitally, his first time doing so on a computer, and then another week to build the actual set. “The shape is full of arches,” he said, “and it took six reconstructions to get the shape right.”
“I live in an area near Tacoma that has a large Ukrainian community. I also work with many of them,” Law continued. “When I had the model, I showed it to them and seeing the expression on their faces is truly a joy.”
Gres says that while she hopes there will be a third wave of Lego sets, “for now, we are focusing on getting attention for the second delivery.”
The path ahead for Ukraine is difficult and uncertain, but it can rebuild itself with the help of small toy bricks.
(*Roy Schwartz is a historian and pop culture critic)
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
