Following the corruption scandal involving the head of the Mukachevo District State Administration, Serhii Haidai, local volunteers collecting donations for drones say they have experienced a sharp decline in fundraising and are facing public accusations of stealing donated funds.
Volunteer and coordinator of the Mukachevo Drones team, Maksym Adamenko, shared the concerns in a comment to Ukrinform.
“This corruption scandal has severely damaged the reputation of local volunteers. The old stereotype that ‘all Zakarpattians are smugglers’ has now been supplemented with a new one: ‘everyone in Mukachevo is stealing money meant for drones.’ We’ve come under reputational fire for something we had absolutely no connection to,” Adamenko said.
He explained that social media posts from their team — whether reporting on fundraising or launching new campaigns — are now attracting negative comments. During offline events, where volunteers collect drone donations in boxes outside major stores on weekends, people have started approaching them with accusations of fraud.
“Before, we occasionally encountered strange individuals accusing us of ‘collecting money for killing.’ But now, after the Haidai corruption scandal, we’re hearing things like: ‘Guys, don’t disgrace yourselves.’ It’s bizarre how people build such logical chains in their minds. But the scandal has hit volunteer credibility hard. We’ve been splashed by the fallout,” Adamenko said.
Mukachevo Drones is a grassroots initiative by local volunteers who regularly raise funds to purchase various types of drones for Ukrainian Defense Forces units that include soldiers from Mukachevo.
On August 2, the Cabinet of Ministers submitted a motion to President Volodymyr Zelensky to dismiss Serhii Haidai as head of the Mukachevo District State Administration. The president signed the dismissal on August 3.
On August 2, authorities revealed a major corruption investigation involving an MP, heads of local administrations, and National Guard officers. NABU and SAPO later clarified the case concerns inflated government contracts for drones and electronic warfare systems, with up to 30% of the funds being funneled back to the perpetrators as kickbacks.
According to media reports, one of the key figures in the case is Serhii Haidai, former head of both the Mukachevo District State Administration and the Luhansk Regional Military Administration.
On August 4, NABU and SAPO officially charged individuals involved in the scheme, including a former regional governor and a member of parliament.
Illustrative photo: Ukraine’s State Emergency Service
Source: After Haidai scandal, Mukachevo volunteers report sharp drop in drone donations
