Usyk’s boxing gloves and Bucha children’s drawings: charity auction held in London to support Ukraine

Over 97,000 pounds were raised for Ukraine at a charity auction in London. Part of the money was collected by selling children's drawings from Bucha.

On June 27, a charity auction was held in London. A fundraiser was held during a dinner hosted by the British star chef Jason Atherton, joined by Tom Sellers, Tom Kitchin, Tom Brown, and Ukrainian chef Yuriy Kovryzhenko. All funds collected, namely £97,273.70, will go to the "With Ukraine" and "Usyk Foundation" funds, which support Ukraine. 

A workout and signed boxing gloves from the famous Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk were among the auction lots, as well as drawings by children from Bucha, which were collected for the auction by the "BGV Charity Fund." Children's drawings from Bucha raised almost 50 thousand hryvnias.

Every drawing that went up for auction had its unique story — each one had the story of the child who drew it. Among the drawings exhibited at the auction, for example, was a drawing of eleven-year-old Sofia. The girl lives with her family in Bucha. The drawing was brought to London from the girl's house in a frame broken by the occupiers:

"Our house was between two fires, our house was robbed, but the occupiers did not live there. The soldiers who got there broke the glass and climbed into the house. And since the house was robbed strangely (I think they were afraid and spent little time in the house), they, for example, took apart the computer with a Swiss army knife and forgot the knife. They went to the second floor. And we have a lot of pictures on the walls. On the second floor, there were pictures of my children. They touched them, one of the paintings fell, and the frame broke," says Yulia, Sofia's mother.

Sofia says about her painting that she painted Ukraine as it would look like if it were a girl. "I think I can sell my drawings and give the money I get for them to the Armed Forces. I drew a lot. And I think this is my biggest help," the girl told the Rubryka journalist.

Sofia's family managed to leave Bucha before the occupation on February 25.

"We were near the tragically famous Yablunska Street," recalls Yulia. "Our house is 30 meters away. And since our artillery arrived at the floodplain of the Irpin River at night, we felt an explosive wave just around the house on the morning of February 25, and it was very scary. We left around 6 in the morning with the idea that we would return in just a few days."

The family did not manage to return "in a few days," but now Sofia and her mother are back at home in Bucha. And her drawing became another contribution to Ukraine's future victory.

We will remind you that Oleksandr Usyk founded a charity fund to help Ukraine.

Earlier, BGV Charity Fund in Prague held a campaign to support children from Ukraine.