Illustration: #IlliaUhnivenko
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Anything can be sold at auctions, the funds from which are directed to the needs of the Ukrainian army: works of art, books, memorabilia and even pieces of enemy equipment. In general, charity auctions were popular among artists before, but in wartime it is difficult to imagine a different format.
Paintings are exhibited by artists from all over Ukraine. That's how Iuliia, an artist from Mykolaiv, collected money for a car for the local military. On her social media, she offered one of her works for sale, which she finished a few days before the full-scale war. Iuliia's studio was damaged by shelling, but this painting survived. Some people didn’t plan to buy the art work, but simply sent money for the Armed Forces. Thanks to the auction, Iuliia was able to donate 17,000 hryvnas (more than 500 dollars) to the Ukrainian army.
Group auctions took place in Ternopil and Lviv. Contemporary artists submitted their work, and anyone could bid online. Lviv volunteers fundraised for night vision devices and managed to get more than 800,000 hryvnas (about 25,000 dollars). Thanks to these funds, they could purchase at least 10 night vision devices.
The auctions for the sale of Maria Prymachenko's painting and the Eurovision-2022 cup became especially popular. Prymachenko's works were stored in the village of Ivankiv, Kyiv Oblast. On February 28, 2022, a Russian shell hit the museum, a fire started and the roof of the building collapsed. Miraculously, local people managed to save and preserve the works of the artist. After the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated Kyiv Oblast, the painting Flowers grew around the fourth block (1990) was put up for auction. Although the starting price was 5,000 dollars, the final bid reached half a million dollars.
The Kalush band fundraised even more for the needs of the army when it put its Eurovision winner's cup up for sale. It was bought for 900,000 dollars, and the funds were used to purchase three drones. It is worth noting that the Eurovision organizers promised to send Kalush a new crystal cup.