Story and photo: Bohdan Prokopovych
Illustration: #OleksandrShatokhin
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Bohdan, a cyclist, started his charity marathon under the following conditions: when he received 700 hryvnas (about 18 dollars), he passed one kilometer in the frontline zone. The goal was to fundraise a million hryvnas (about 25,000 dollars) for the Ukrainian army, which Bohdan decided to distribute between two charitable foundations: Serhiy Prytula Foundation and Come Back Alive.
The cyclist chose a dangerous route, because he was moving along the front line: from Kyiv he went to Okhtyrka (Sumy Oblast), then moved to Kharkiv, Kramatorsk (Donetsk Oblast), Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih and Mykolaiv. The risk was needed in order to attract more attention and collect enough donations. And this strategy fully paid off: Bohdan received half a million already on the first day.
The cyclist not only drove through hot spots, but also documented the lives of people in the frontline cities. In his social networks, the man posted photos of the destruction from the hands of the Russian army, and also held auctions: he sold Russian combat rations, waste cluster bombs from the BM-27 Uragan multiple rocket launcher, and debris from an enemy missile.
Eventually, Bohdan even managed to fundraise 200,000 hryvnas more than planned. Accordingly, the cyclist covered a greater distance: his total route was one and a half thousand kilometers. The man spent a total of 10 days on thus charity journey.
